Booker dismisses early surveys: ‘If you’re polling ahead right now, you should worry’

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said Sunday he remains bullish on his chances in the crowded Democratic field, despite the fact that his debate performances have yet to translate to polling bumps.

“The polls have never been predictive this far out. In fact, if you’re polling ahead right now, you should worry because we’ve never in my lifetime and yours had somebody who was polling ahead this far out that went on to the presidency,” Booker told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Booker noted that candidates like Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were all initially “considered long shots.”

{mosads}Moreover, Booker said, “in the ground in those states where you’re going to have three hundred- 400,000 people in Iowa deciding in caucus rooms, we have more endorsements from state legislators and mayors than all the top-five polling candidates combined.”

“In other words, the people on the ground in Iowa who are seeing what’s happened, who are going to be in those caucus rooms are choosing my campaign,” he told NBC’s Chuck Todd.

Booker added that he had faith in his campaign apparatus to deliver results.

“We have a better organization, according to the Des Moines Register, than just about every other candidate. We’re going to win this the same way I beat a machine in Newark, New Jersey: through organizing, through building a team that’s going to win,” he said.