Quinnipiac pollster calls Penn. Gov. Ed Rendell, a Hillary Clinton supporter

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell was relaxing around his house last weekend when the phone rang. On the other end of the line was a pollster from the Quinnipiac University poll looking to get his opinions about the upcoming April 22nd Democratic presidential primary between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Rendell, a supporter and fundraiser for Hillary Clinton, was one of 1,340 likely Democratic voters polled in the state from April 3rd to the 6th.

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Two of the questions in the poll dealt with the impact of two high profile endorsements for Clinton and Obama - Gov. Rendell’s endorsement of Clinton and Senator Bob Casey’s endorsement of Obama.

When they got to question 10 the pollster asked the governor “as you may know, Governor Ed Rendell has endorsed Hillary Clinton for President. Does Rendell’s endorsement of Clinton make you more likely to vote for Clinton, less likely to vote for Clinton, or doesn’t it make a difference?”

“When they asked if Ed Rendell’s endorsement had any impact, I said, ‘Absolutely,’” the governor told the Patriot-News of Harrisburg.

Eight percent of poll respondents agreed with the Governor while nine percent said his endorsement made them less likely to vote for Clinton - 82 percent said his endorsement doesn’t make a difference according to the poll results.

His response to the next question wasn’t quite as enthusiastic.

The question read, “as you may know, Senator Bob Casey has endorsed Barack Obama for President. Does Casey’s endorsement of Obama make you more likely to vote for Obama, less likely to vote for Obama, or doesn’t it make a difference?”

Rendell told the pollster that Casey’s endorsement made no difference according to the Patriot-News report.

87 percent of poll respondents agreed with the governor on that question while five percent of those polled said Casey’s endorsement made them more likely to vote for Obama - seven percent of respondents said Casey’s endorsement made them less likely to vote for Obama.

“I didn’t burn him,” said the governor, who passed up the opportunity to say that Casey’s support of Obama made him less likely to vote for Obama. “The idea that we’re enemies is ludicrous,” Rendell said.

The poll was conducted from April 3rd to the 6th and surveyed 1,340 likely Democratic primary voters in Pennsylvania. The margin of error is 2.7 percentage points.

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