Here's a perfect example of a rigged poll. Ask loaded,
misleading questions, oversample liberals & undersample
conservatives. I bet the MSM & libs absolutely love the
misleading results.
THE INTERESTING STUFF IN THIS MORNING'S WASHINGTON POST POLL
TKS
jim geraghty reporting
The headline in the Washington Post says the public is opposed to ending the filibuster.
The phrasing of the question is fascinating: "Would you support or oppose changing Senate rules to make it easier for the Republicans to confirm Bush's judicial nominees?" Unsurprisingly, when portrayed as a power grab, only 26 support, and 66 oppose.
One wonders if the response would be different if the respondents were asked, "Do you support a minority of Democrats preventing Bush's judicial nominees from being voted on, when a majority of senators have indicated their support for those nominees?"
The Post headline also says, "Survey also finds president's approval ratings falling."
Indeed, the president's disapproval rating is 50 percent, and his approval rating is 47 percent.
The last poll, taken March 13, said, 50 percent approval, 48 percent disapproval. So it's a shift of a few points, but not a dramatic swing. But back on October 20, the last Post/ABC poll taken before the election found Bush at 50 percent approval, 48 percent disapproval. Two weeks later, the president was reelected. So has much changed since the election? Two or three more points disapproving, two or three fewer points approving?
Bush gets terrible numbers on his handling of Social Security, Iraq, the economy and energy. His lone bright spot: 56 percent approve of his handling of the war on terror, 41 percent disapprove.
Also interesting in these numbers: 44 percent think the war in Iraq was not worth fighting, 54 percent think it was. Back before the election, it was 49 percent worth it, 48 percent not worth it. And 58 percent say the U.S. has gotten bogged down in Iraq, while only 39 percent think the U.S. is making good progress.
Those responses really baffle me, since I think it can be argued that things in Iraq have improved significantly since the Jan. 30 elections. But it appears that as things improve there, public support drops. A reverse rally-around-the-flag effect?
Also interesting - Tom Delay gets a 35 percent approval rating, 38 percent disapproval rating, and 27 percent no opinion.
UPDATE: Interesting - asked to identify themselves politically, 35 percent said Democrat, 28 percent said Republican, 32 percent said Independent, and 5 percent said other. But the same sample also identified themselves as 20 percent liberal, 47 percent moderate, and 30 percent conservative.
UPDATE, AGAIN: Erick Woods Erickson over at RedState is wondering about the order of the questions.
redstate.org
nationalreview.com
washingtonpost.com |
