Posted on 10/01/2004 6:04:33 PM PDT by conservativecorner
Reviewing the media drool over the debate last night, I found a peculiar page on cBS' website. It has a quote in two locations on the page that says, "In the horse race, Kerry now leads Mr. Bush among uncommitted debate watchers by 38-28 percent as their choice for president in November."
Two issue I have with that statement.
First, their own poll statistics, on the same page, show the numbers to actually be 38-31. So they've decided to just tell readers something completely different than their own poll numbers show. Instead of a 7 point lead, they tell us it's a 10 point lead.
Second, and probably the reason they've totally made up the 10 point number is what the poll disclaimer says at the bottom of the page.
The margin of sampling error could be plus or minus 7 percentage points for results based on the entire sample. Basically, their poll numbers show a 7 point lead in a poll with a 7 point MOE. That means there is no significant finding from the poll they conducted.
Third, if you look at the actual numbers on their site, you'll notice that while the "PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE AMONG DEBATE WATCHERS" numbers for Kerry rose by 10 points from pre- to post-debate, the number of undecideds who prefer Bush rose 12!
Yet they're still trumpeting the victory song to support their love affair with Kerry.
It's shameful.
Check out the bottom of that CBS page for the "PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE AMONG DEBATE WATCHERS". This "uncommitted" poll started off with 31% Kerry-leaners and only 19% Bush-leaners.
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