IN-04: Ackerson Running Strong Against Buyer

In Indiana’s Fourth Congressional District, there is evidence that Nels Ackerson is running strong against incumbent Republican, Steve Buyer; with a survey showing Ackerson at 36% to Buyer’s 38% and 26% undecided. The very first thing to note is that the Journal & Courier poll was not scientific. Normally, I would not bother mentioning such a thing — if Candidate X does well in an online Internet poll, for example, that is evidence of exactly nothing. However, the other results for candidates in the Journal & Courier’s survey appear consistent with what I have seen in scientific polls. The survey has Gov. Daniels at 49% to Jill Long Thompson’s 30% and McCain up over Obama 51% to 45%. So, it seems reasonable to conclude that the Ackerson/Buyer responses are within shouting distance of what a scientific poll would reveal.