CBS/NYTimes Skews Polling, Misleads Public

HotAir is running an important look at the recent poll by CBS and New York Times which paints the Democrats as glorious and Republicans as withering. The problem is the polling which takes a look at party popularity is drastically skewed towards sampling more Democrats than Republicans by 16%! That’s like going to Pittsburgh last season and then asking passerbys who would win in the Super Bowl.

The NYTimes writes:

Americans have grown more optimistic about the economy and the direction of the country in the 11 weeks since President Obama was inaugurated, suggesting that he is enjoying some success in his critical task of rebuilding the nation’s confidence, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

These sometimes turbulent weeks — marked by new initiatives by Mr. Obama, attacks by Republicans and more than a few missteps by the White House — do not appear to have hurt the president. Americans said they approved of Mr. Obama’s handling of the economy, foreign policy, Iraq and Afghanistan; fully two-thirds said they approved of his overall job performance.

By contrast, just 31 percent of respondents said they had a favorable view of the Republican Party, the lowest in the 25 years the question has been asked in New York Times/CBS News polls.

HotAir refutes with the hidden details:

It’s not unusual for the Gray Lady to cook the numbers, either, to make sure their poll shows that support. This is the breakout in their demographics on page 23:

* Democrats – 39%
* Republicans – 23%
* Independents – 30%

In February, just a month earlier, they had Democrats at 36% and Republicans at 26% — still too low for the GOP, but only a ten-point gap. Now they want to argue that Democrats have pushed the partisan gap to 16 points in a single month?

HotAir also points out that Newsweek used a 19% gap in its polling!

Lesson learned: be sure to pull back the curtains when you read the MSM pouring koolaid.

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