Last week, Media Matters for America noted that an August 25 Associated Press article about the Connecticut Senate race “summarized the state of the race by emphasizing a week-old poll showing Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman with a 12-point lead over Democratic nominee Ned Lamont rather than two more recent polls that show the race in a dead heat.”

In an August 29 article about former Republican vice-presidential candidate Jack Kemp's plan to campaign with Lieberman, the Associated Press continued to misleadingly tout the outdated Quinnipiac poll. The AP also ignored two other polls and downplayed a third, all of which are more recent and all of which show a closer race. The AP reported:

A Quinnipiac University poll last week showed Lieberman with a 12-point lead over Lamont among likely voters, while an American Research Group poll showed Lieberman with only a slight advantage. Republican Alan Schlesinger received single-digit support in both polls.

In fact, the Quinnipiac poll wasn't “last week,” it was two weeks ago -- the poll was conducted August 10-14 and was released August 17.

The three polls released since the Quinnipiac poll:

• The American Research Group showed Lieberman with a 2-point lead. The AP mentioned the ARG poll, but failed to note that it is more recent than the Quinnipiac poll and characterized the ARG poll only vaguely.
• A Rasmussen Reports poll also showed Lieberman with a 2-point lead. The AP omitted any mention of this poll.
• The AP did not mention a Zogby poll, the newest of the four, that put Lieberman's lead at 10 points.

The Quinnipiac poll is not only the most out-of-date of the four polls, it also showed the largest lead for Lieberman. Yet the Associated Press consistently touts this old poll at the expense of newer polls showing a closer race.