Sen. Daniel Inouye says it’s too early in the election year to take meaningful polls about voters’ attitudes. 

“It appears that certain people want to sell newspapers or magazines, and so they have to somehow have an issue: polls and finance contributions,” Inouye told DC808. 

While he never mentioned Civil Beat by name, it appears the senator was referring to a poll Civil Beat conducted late last month that showed close competition in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. Inouye made the comments before the Honolulu Star-Advertiser published a poll (requires subscription) over the weekend. 

“Polls taken today mean very little nine months from now,” Inouye said. “And yet we make a big to-do about it… Polls don’t mean anything.”