CNN’s Poll Vaulting

Publius Forum ^ | 09/15/09 | Warner Todd Huston

[Mobile Vulgus]

A short report on CNN’s Political Ticker is interesting for what it doesn’t mention in the story as well as its admittedly misleading trumpeted headline that Obama got “double-digit post-speech jump” after his Sept, 9 healthcare speech to a joint session of Congress.

First the headline: “CNN Poll: Double-digit post-speech jump for Obama plan.”

Reading that headline would lead someone to believe, well, that there was a double-digit jump in Obama’s numbers. After all, that’s what is says. But at the tale of the story the CNN piece the last paragraph admits that these numbers are heavily skewed to Democrats.

The audience for the speech appears to be more Democratic than the U.S. population as a whole. Because of this, the results may favor Obama simply because more Democrats than Republicans tune into the speech. The poll surveyed the opinions of people who watched Wednesday night's speech, and does not reflect the views of all Americans.

Alright. That disclaimer is all well and good, but why the headline that would make reader imagine that it was a straight poll of people responding to the speech instead of a poll of mostly Democrats responding to the speech?

Read the rest at Publiusforum.com...

[Mobile Vulgus]

The Old Media will do ANYTHING to make it look like Obama wins.

[FormerACLUmember]

A truly memorable totally faked CNN poll.

[tcrlaf]

Blatant Push-Polling, designed to CHANGE opinion, not seek opinion...

Democrats have used this tactic for DECADES...

[Emile]

It's the same old thing the MSM has been doing all along. Reporting poll numbers for 0's echo chamber (his sycophants and fellow leftists) and trying to pass that off as the opinion of the American people. This is no different than what 0 and other politicians do, in packing their political events with cheering, adoring followers, lest someone think that anyone actually opposes their programs.

You'd expect politicians to do this, but what is the MSM's excuse for doing it? Could this be the proof that they do nothing more than carry the water for their anointed favorites like 0? And -- could this be why THEIR approval ratings approach that of politicians themselves? Finally, could this be why they're all slowly going bankrupt before our eyes?

[Nick Danger]

Yeah, but what effect do they think they are having by doing this? This is how the liberal media leads the Donks over a cliff, time after time. The Donks turn on their "news" and hear their own BS being repeated back to them. They think Obama has really turned things around with his speech; that's what CNN says. So they proceed right over a cliff, with the public still arrayed 45-52 against them.

Are there any people who actually show up on election day who are so doofus that they change their own opinions to be in line with the side that CNN says is "winning"? I can't believe there are enough such idiots to change anything. It's all just liberals in the press preaching to liberals in their audience, telling themselves what they want to hear.

[ScottinVA]

Like Rush said, CNN needs to leave news reporting to the professionals.