PPP Defends McCaskill-Akin Poll Showing Even Race on Monday

People didn't like what Rep. Todd Akin said, the Democratic polling firm's director explained, but Sen. Claire McCaskill remains a "deeply unpopular incumbent"

When the Democratic polling firm Public Policy Polling released a flash poll late Monday evening showing Missouri Rep. Todd Akin with a slim 44-43 edge over Sen. Claire McCaskill, the results immediately aroused suspicions on the right.

"If I were a cynic, I might suggest that PPP — a Democratic pollster – did the flash poll knowing it was too soon for the effect of the controversy to make its way into the electorate in the hope of keeping Akin's hope alive before he makes his decision overnight whether to step aside," wrote William Jacobson of the conservative Legal Insurrection blog.