The NYT mangles Obama's approval ratings; ought to post a correction

Written by Eric Boehlert

Published

The Times' Op-ed page devoted all kinds of space on Sunday so influential insiders could ponder the Times' question: “How Can Obama Rebound?”

See, everyone in the know understands that Obama's presidency is now officially in free-fall. How do they know? Because Beltway media insiders say so. (Simple right?) In fact, the Times Op-ed page even provided proof for why Obama's presidency need to be rescued [emphasis added]:

Though BP managed to stop the spread of oil from its broken well last week, President Obama has been able to do little to stop the drop in his public approval ratings, which now, according to a new ABC News-Washington Post poll, hover just above 40 percent.

Well, there you go. According to the latest ABC News-Washington Post poll, Obama's approval rating hovers just above 40 percent.

Except that, of course, it doesn't.

In the latest ABC News-Washington Post poll, Obama's approval rating stands at a solid 50 percent. So the Times needs to issue a correction on getting that central fact wrong.

Perhaps the Times was referring to the fact that 43 percent of people in the ABC News-Washington Post poll said they had confidence that Obama would do the right thing for the country's future. But of course, that's not what the Times referenced. It claimed Obama's “approval ratings” now hover just above 40 percent in the ABC News-Washington Post poll. But they don't. They hover at 50 percent.

Please note that last week a Bloomberg News poll put Obama's job approval rating at an even better 52 percent, which marked a slight increase from March. But for some reasons that didn't stop the Times from hosting a forum about Obama's inability to “stop the drop” in his approval ratings.

Ugh.

For the record, Real Clear Politics maintains a rolling average of Obama's approval rating based on all the latest polling data, and it currently stands at 47.6 percent. In early January, Obama's approval ratings at RCP stood at 48.2 percent. So yes, with Obama down less than one percentage point over six months, you can see why the Times devoted all sorts of column space to ponder Obama's falling approval rating, right?

Oh yeah, this morning at Gallup, Obama's approval ratings, which has been measured every day of his presidency, stands at 49 percent. And guess what? On August 18, 11 months ago, it stood at 51 percent.

Obama's approval rating? Look out below!!