Echoing Trump’s Falsehoods About Journalism, Coffman Accuses New York Times Of Rigging Its Poll Against Him

With multiple polls showing U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman of Aurora headed toward defeat in Tuesday’s election, the longtime Republican Congressman saw no reason to worry yesterday, blaming the New York Times for deliberately skewing polling results toward his opponent, Democrat Jason Crow, and manufacturing concern about a possible loss by Coffman.

Asked about polls showing him down by double digits in his race with Crow, Coffman told KOA radio host April Zezbaugh:

Coffman: “That was by the New York Times and I think they put their thumb on the scale.”

Put their thumb on the scale?

This accusation reflects statements by Trump, who repeatedly calls the most respected news outlets in America “fake news.” He refers to the New York Times repeatedly as, “The failing New York Times.” Even though the stock price of the Times had more than doubled since Trump entered office.

The Colorado Times Recorder called Coffman’s spokesman Tyler Sandberg to ask if Coffman had any evidence that the New York Times rigged its poll against him.

“I don’t talk to fake news,” Sandberg said. “Thanks.”

He hung up immediately, before I could ask if he would put the New York Times in the same category.

In any case, no basis for Coffman’s accusation could be found. Even if you question the poll’s methodology, there’s no evidence of the Times purposefully skewing it in favor of any candidate.

As a statement of fact, the New York Times is widely regarded as a credible news source that would not jump in bed with Crow to create the illusion that Coffman is seriously down in the polls.

Coffman went on to tell KOA that he doesn’t “put a lot of stock in the polls” and won previously by wide margins when he was only up in polls by single digits.

Asked if he was bothered that national Republicans pulled money out of his race, because he appears to be losing badly, Coffman did not answer directly but said GOP fundraising efforts haven’t been as successful as expected nationally “so they are short of resources.” He blamed Democratic billionaires for coming in his district.

Coffman did not answer Zesbaugh’s question about whether he’d like Trump to come to Colorado to campaign for him.

As for his campaign, Coffman said, “It’s going great. A fantastic ground game. A great turnout by Republicans, and obviously it’s going to take cross-over votes in this district to win.”

Listen to Coffman on KOA Nov. 1 here: