Deceptive Polling (Prsdt. Bush vs. the 4th column)

AIM ^ | March 24, 2006 | Roger Aronoff

[IrishMike]

In this case it exposed the problems inherent in the CBS poll finding Bush at a very low 34 percent approval.....Polls are among the most telling expressions of bias in the media. They are very often agenda-driven, used to make a political point, or to pile on a favorite target. The most controversial and flawed poll that has been most cited in recent weeks has been the CBS News poll finding that President Bush's approval rating was down to 34%. Another poll, purporting to find that U.S. troops are weary of the Iraq War or want a premature withdrawal, is also suspect. CBS's Public Eye website, the blog/ombudsman run by a different division of CBS, provided a great service to its readers. The poll was based on a sampling of 1018 "adults," rather than likely voters, and the sampling was top heavy with Democrats, 409, against only 272 Republicans, which is a ratio of approximately 40% to 27%. After adjusting for the imbalance through a process called "weighting," the results of the poll now show that the sampling was 37% Democrats, 28% Republicans, and 35% independents. The number of Democrats was inflated to get a more dramatic anti-Bush result.

When the New York Times refers to the poll, it makes no mention of how the poll is weighted or what the sampling was. Only that Bush's approval rating was a miserable 34% was highlighted. In other polls taken over the same period, Bush's approval rating was as high as 46% and, according to the highly regarded Real Clear Politics, was an average of 39.8%. But over and over, on Meet the Press, Chris Matthew's Hardball, and many other shows, Bush's approval rating was stated as the much lower 34%. Not surprisingly, even the North Korean Times trumpeted Bush's low ratings.

[IrishMike]

Normally there is at least the representation of transparency but that doesn't exist here. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof said he had been informed about the methodology, off the record, a strange way to try to bolster the results.

Kristof, perhaps best known as the columnist who first publicized Joseph Wilson's dubious claims about uranium from Africa, seized on the Zogby survey to say that it is "one more bit of evidence that our grim stay-the-course policy in Iraq has failed. Even the American troops on the ground don't buy into it—and having administration officials pontificate from the safety of Washington about the need for ordinary soldiers to stay the course further erodes military morale."

The Democracy Project also questions the survey co-sponsor, something called the Le Moyne College Center for Peace and Global Studies. Kessler said it is "a typical leftist campus creation." And he questions the foreign policy predilections of Zogby, whose brother James is the president of the Arab American Institute.

[Road Warrior ‘04]

I pay little or no attention to the polls. As the article states, they are skewed to get the wanted result. I quit watching network news about fifteen or sixteen years ago for this very reason. They were trying to tell us how and what to think. Save CNN, during the first Gulf War, (it was the only game in town) and I slowed watching it when Arnett pulled his BS shenanigans. Thanks to AIM for revealing the truth.

[BillM]

Why don't we propose and support a 'Truth in Polling' statute?

People publishing polls would be required to publish the entire poll with all its statistics, questions, demographics etc. I think that would solve the problem!

[jmaroneps37]

AP-IPOS Poll: Bush has first negative approval rating in history.


"In a startling report, AP-IPSOS, the respected Madison Wisconsin polling firm, has announced that its latest poll has found President George Bush's approval number have now actually gone into the negative.

AP-IPOS Vice President in charge of national polling, Clinton Demokratsky shook his head apparently still amazed by the results of his own poll as he addressed a gaggle of giddy reporters. "Yes it is true, Mr Bush's approval numbers have fallen to an unprecedented minus six percent." Demokratsky said.


He went on to explain that while it was no surprise that one hundred percent of those responding to his poll ( 134 adults living in various institutions across the nation, with a 3% +/-)he was surprised that 8 people who were not even called, had used caller ID to get his home phone number, call him and express their hate for Mr. Bush.

"The only thing we could do is announce it as it happened. It is true, Mr. Bush has a negative 6% approval rating. It would take 9 people changing their minds to get Bush to a 1% approval rating." Demokratsky add."

[LibLieSlayer]

zog graduated from Le Moyne College. Enuff said!

LLS

[IrishMike]

""""Demokratsky"""""

Thats the guys name ????

[JLGALT]

Here's a little information about polls that is NEVER mentioned. During the clinton reign I questioned the pools so I decided to get an inside view of pooling. I took a part-time job as a phone interviewer at a major polling organization.

I immediately noticed the quality of my fellow interviewers. They were divided into three about equal parts. 1) College students 2) High school dropouts and 3) very troubled individuals (drugs problems, alcohol problems and financial problems). All three groups were predominately leftists.

Then I learned something even more relevant. We had a question about hillery. About 70% of those I called answered "dislike". When I mentioned this on break another interviewer said "I don't care what they say. I like her and that's why I always push the key (computer) that says "favorable"!

So when you see a pool that you don't agree with remember what I'm saying and DON'T BELIEVE what's being reported.

[IrishMike]

My daughter (4th year University Albany) is frequently a 'pollster' and telemarketer.

She's so left it's practically un describable.