[Nataku X]

But does having "Excellent", "Good", "Fair", "Poor" categories and then lumping *all* of the "Fair" into the "bad" column represent an accurate portrait of the candidate? that is how he has done Bush's approval ratings several times.

[Dave S]

But does having "Excellent", "Good", "Fair", "Poor" categories and then lumping *all* of the "Fair" into the "bad" column represent an accurate portrait of the candidate? that is how he has done Bush's approval ratings several times.

Thats how Presidential ratings have always been done, whether by Zogby or others. People dont like using negative points in a rating scale so pollsters put in additional positive categories to avoid all respondents answering either "excellent" or "good". To you, a "fair" may not sound bad but to a trained professional who knows that the respondents also had a choice of "Excellent" and "Good" its not a positive statement. For example if your wife was asked how you perform in bed and she said "fair" I doubt you would be too happy about it.

[deport]

Two Polls... Zog and Harris use the groupings of
Excellent/Good
Fair/Poor

Here's a link to their Clinton ratings using those groupings....

http://www.pollingreport.com/clinton-.htm