Back in my Connecticut days, I even liked crossing the old Quinnipiac Bridge: It was a thrill ride with a risk of actual death for vehicles and their drivers, especially in high winds and hard rains. It is the only bridge I have ever crossed that involved simultaneous roll, pitch, and yaw. For good or ill, that bridge is gone now.
To skip past the rest of this nostalgia trip, click the Read More link below.
Quinnipiac University is one of Greater New Haven's five colleges and universities, along with Southern Connecticut State, UNH, Albertus Magnus, and—uh, what's that other one near Toad's Place? Even with 20 times the population of New Haven, Houston also has five four-year universities, two of which are quite large, but none of which dominates the landscape the way Yale does.
QU is in Hamden, a town immediately north of New Haven, once home to Eli Whitney's workshop. If you're not from up that way, you've probably never heard of the university or its town...unless you follow opinion polls. How does an obscure liberal arts college in an obscure Connecticut town get to be the home of a prestigious political polling organization? Indeed, why does another obscure Connecticut town still play host to America's number one sports network?
Quinnipiac asked questions that included the name Jill Stein...and published the responses.
Whoa.
The latest QU presidential poll includes questions about a four-way contest between Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Gary Johnson, and Jill Stein. It contains some remarkable and very meaningful numbers.
First, in a four-way race, Johnson polls 5% and Stein 3% among all respondents. Among independent voters, the percentages are double that or better (10% and 7%). Among self-identified Hispanics, the former New Mexico governor is damn close to the guy who calls Mexican immigrants murderers, rapists, and drug dealers: 15% for Trump, 10% for Johnson.
The numbers are slightly lower for Johnson, running from 74% to 89%. Generally, Millennials are more likely than their less Web-savvy elders to know about the third-party candidates, and to hold favorable opinions of them.
A college education makes little difference in respondents' knowledge of Johnson and Stein, although those who know tend to hold them in higher esteem.
The mainstream media would never say aloud that they're doing a crappy job of providing information about all the presidential nominees whose names might appear on your ballot.
Go ahead and get lost in the numbers. Or maybe you'd prefer not to. Maybe it's just a me thing.