Aug 18 2007
CNN poll results on Huffpo… how were the results achieved?
I am no expert on polling. I am, however, suspicious of any headline I read at Huffington Post, especially when I click on it and I am taken to a CNN story. Here is what shows up if you hit the “quick read” link at Huffpo:
Majority Of Americans Don’t Trust Upcoming Petraeus Iraq Report »
CNN | August 17, 2007 12:02 PM
A majority of Americans don’t trust the upcoming report by the Army’s top commander in Iraq on the progress of the war and even if they did, it wouldn’t change their mind, according to a new poll.
President Bush frequently has asked Congress — and the American people — to withhold judgment on his so-called troop surge in Iraq until Gen. David Petraeus, the commander in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, U.S. ambassador to Iraq, issue their progress report in September.
My first thought was about the polling methods used. I wondered if they had published detailed information on the sample. I found a pdf linked to with the CNN article in a small area on the left side of the page. The Area had the look of an advertisement with the words “Don’t Miss.” The first bullet in this area read “complete results.” If you take the time to read the pdf file of the “complete results” you will find that 1,029 adult Americans were polled via telephone by Opinion Research Corporation on Aug. 6-8, 2007.
In the “complete results” They show only a few of the questions, and in all but the first question with the results they add at the end of each question:
(ASKED OF HALF SAMPLE)
I am certain CNN made sure that the half that were asked these questions had given no indication of what their answers might be prior to selection. An unbiased network that still pays Michael Ware has unimpeachable credibility.
The problem, as I see it, is two-fold. Some people actually get their news from sources like Huffington Post and believe the portions they read without digging a little to find the foundation beneath the compost. The second problem is that we have organizations like Huffpo and CNN that tailor their reporting to create the image they desire. It is unfortunate that the image they wish to project for American consumption is one in which America cannot win the war and one in which Americans don’t want to win the war.
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