How not to report on polling
July 13, 2009 10:40 am ET by Jamison Foser
CBSNews.com headline: "Poll: Most Undecided About Sotomayor."
And the lede: "Senate confirmation hearings begin today for Sonia Sotomayor, but just four in ten Americans have an opinion of the nominee, a new CBS News poll finds."
And the beginning of the third paragraph: "But what could be most significant is that 62 percent of Americans still are undecided or say they haven't heard enough about her yet to make a judgment."
Wow, it sounds like a really big deal that most people are undecided about Sotomayor, doesn't it? But wait:
That is not unusual for a Supreme Court nominee just prior to his or her confirmation hearings and majorities could not assess previous nominees before their hearings either in CBS News polling.
In fact, somewhat more people have opinions of Sotomayor now than had opinions of past nominees before their hearings.
Oh. Never mind...
Note, by the way, that the CBSNews.com never gives the actual percentage of people who could not assess previous nominees before their hearings.
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In fact, somewhat more people have opinions of Sotomayor now than had opinions of past nominees before their hearings."
Oh good heavens... this is what passes for professional media today?
This kind of twisted logic used to come out of only Fox-Noise...
This is just one more piece of proof that shows that corporate owned media truly is a danger to our society... the Fox-Noise laziness, non-professional manner, and willingness to sue for the legal right to lie is seeping into all the other corporate denizens.
We are in big trouble.