Cox Campaign Tries to Spin Its Way Out of Deficit

Cox Hangs Hat on data that shows that he's winning on Economic Stability, yet he continues to focus on issues that hurt, not help, his campaign

On Saturday we discussed the latest Washington Post poll that has Wes Moore clobbering Dan Cox in the gubernatorial general election.

Late last night, Dan Cox released a statement trying to spin his way out of this mess.

No, instead of acknowledging the fact that he is losing, Cox tried to claim that he’s winning:

And according to the news article on a withheld portion of the poll, those polled indicated the economy and their current financial situation as their highest concern.

What Cox is referring to is this part of the WaPo story on the poll:

The economy was the most important issue for 24 percent of registered voters in the Post-UMD poll, and half of those voters say they would vote for Cox, compared with 39 percent who support Moore.

That part of the electorate, however, constitutes less than a quarter of the total electorate. It goes back to my point on Saturday in which I pointed out:

The economy is the number one issue, but Cox is spending his time focused on Wes Moore’s book, Wes Moore not going to the Morgan State debate, litigating the counting of absentee ballots, and vaccine mandates.

Cox, who as we know so far refuses to commit to accepting the results of his election, unsurprisingly glossed over this nugget in his public statement:

One in 5 voters are most concerned about threats to democracy — voters’ second-most important issue, after the economy — and 82 percent of those voters say they would vote for Moore. Cox has called the 2020 election “stolen” and has yet to commit to accepting the results of the November contest.

All of this again lays waste to the idea that he is running a competent campaign.

The most ridiculous part is Cox and Company referring to this as a “push poll.” This is the question that the Washington Post/UMD poll asked:

If the election were being held today and the candidates were (Wes Moore, the Democrat) and (Dan Cox, the Republican) for whom would you vote? Which one are you leaning toward right now?

The parenthesis indicates that the options were rotated.

Now compare that to the Democratic Push Poll run in January that was intended to boost Dan Cox’s name ID:

Now that you know that President Trump has endorsed Dan Cox and Governor Hogan has endorsed Kelly Schulz let me ask you again: The Republican candidates for Governor are Dan Cox and Kelly Schulz. If the primary election was today, which candidate would you vote for?

The Washington Post/UMD poll was run according to standard polling practices. This is a textbook poll.

I’m surprised that Cox did not parrot the talking points some of his supporters have adopted which is that the poll was “biased” because 54% of the people polled were Democrats.

• Percentage of voters polled: 54% Democrats, 24 % Republicans, 22% Independent/Other

• Percentage of registered voters in Maryland: 54% Democrats, 24 % Republicans, 22% Independent/Other

If Cox and his campaign team were smart, they would be focused on trying to make chicken salad out of chicken shit in the last five weeks of the campaign. Then again, if Cox and his campaign team were smart they wouldn’t be down by over 30 points, either….