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Like we said, can't anybody read a poll?

June 30, 2009 12:29 pm ET by Eric Boehlert

Jamison just highlighted the dreadful WashPost effort, as the Beltway press corps continues to fictionalize the tale about Obama's falling poll numbers. (Fact: According to the latest from WashPost/ABC News, his approval rating stands at a very robust 65 percent.)

In my column this week, I focused attention on the ABC News team and how they did their best to ignore, play down and just plain misinform viewers and readers about their own polling data.

For instance, on his blog, This Week host George Stephanopoulos posted an item under the headline: "Obama's Poll Numbers Falling to Earth?" In his post, Stephanopoulos stressed that Obama was "slipping a bit," but never once mentioned that Obama's approval rating stood at 65 percent, down just 1 point from March.

Oops.

Jake Tapper's report last week on GMA perfectly captured the ABC unsightly phenomena. Watch below, and then read the column to see exactly why his report was so dismal.

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    • Author by thejbomb65 (June 30, 2009 1:11 pm ET)
      2  
      i take back my earlier praise of ABC for apologizing on something on another thread.

      hey neo cons cant say george is in obama's pocket anymore......though im sure they will still try
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    • Author by newzhound (June 30, 2009 1:59 pm ET)
      2  
      On the evening news, Charlie Gibson's network no longer provides the margin of error for polls. Instead of providing a simple number, the fine print on the screen refers the viewer to their website.

      Time after time talking heads (and idiots such as those found on NewsBusters) talk about increases or decreases in poll numbers when the change lies within the margin of error. In other words, no measurable change at all.

      Why is this such a difficult concept to grasp?

      The folks who post on NewsBusters aren't much smarter, either. One of them took me to task for stating that half the people in America are of below-average intelligence. He asked me for a citation to that claim...
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