In a report on President Bush's approval ratings during the December 16 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider said that "[a]ll the national polls show the president's approval rating going up over the past month." An accompanying on-screen graphic displayed five polls that showed increases in Bush's approval rating of between one and five points. But Schneider's statement ignored a December 13 Zogby International poll showing a three-point decline for Bush.* In addition, most of the polls listed on screen during Schneider's report received coverage on CNN news and talk shows within 48 hours of their release, while the Zogby poll has thus far received no mention on any CNN programs.

The graphic shown during Schneider's report listed the five polls in the following order:

• CNN/USA Today/Gallup, five-point increase
• CBS News/New York Times, five-point increase
• Associated Press/Ipsos, five-point increase
• Pew Research, two-point increase
• NBC/Wall Street Journal, one-point increase

The Zogby poll, released prior to the NBC/Journal poll but after the other polls on CNN's list, was the only one to show a decline in Bush's approval rating. The network featured numerous instances of coverage for three of the five polls listed between December 1 and December 15.

The first poll showing a boost in Bush's approval rating came on December 8, released by CBS News and The New York Times. It showed a five-point increase for Bush compared to the same poll from the previous month. On the day that poll was released, five CNN programs -- American Morning, Live From, Your World Today, The Situation Room and Lou Dobbs Tonight -- mentioned the poll. The poll received additional mention on the December 12 edition of American Morning.

Subsequently, a December 9 Associated Press/Ipsos poll also showed a five-point increase for Bush. CNN reported that information on the next day's Live Saturday, and returned to it again the following Monday during American Morning and Live Today.

Finally, CNN's own polling on Bush's job approval rating, released on December 12 in conjunction with Gallup and USA Today, showed a four-point increase over the previous month.

In the recent past, CNN has cited Zogby polls. For instance, the cable network reported Zogby polling on Bush's approval rating in a roundup of polls on September 11, 2005, following Hurricane Katrina. The network has also noted Zogby polling results on a range of issues during the past year, including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-NY) favored position among Democrats for a 2008 presidential run (February 23), public opinion on English as the official language of the United States (August 18) and immigration policy (May 5), audience response to a fictional presidential debate aired live on NBC's The West Wing (November 4, 13), and the sexual health practices of Americans (October 13, November 8).

From the December 16 edition of CNN's The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer:

SCHNEIDER: All in all, President Bush has had a very bad year, but not such a bad week. In fact, maybe good enough to claim this week's “Political Play of the Week.” This week, President Bush did something unusual for him: He acknowledged mistakes in Iraq.

BUSH [video clip]: We've adapted our tactics. We have fixed what was not working.

SCHNEIDER: His recent speeches were marked by a tone we haven't heard much from this president: realism.

BUSH [video clip]: So we can expect violence to continue.

SCHNEIDER: He even acknowledged the human cost.

BUSH [video clip]: I would say 30,000, more or less, have died as a result of the initial incursion and the ongoing violence against Iraqis.

SCHNEIDER: All the national polls show the president's approval rating going up over the past month. The payoff for President Bush came when Iraqi voters went to the polls to elect their first constitutional government.

* Unlike the other polls mentioned, Zogby International's does not report straight approval/disapproval numbers. The poll asks respondents to rate Bush's job performance as either 1) excellent, 2) good, 3) fair or 4) poor; the percentage totals for the 'excellent' and 'good' responses are combined to form the Zogby approval rating. The poll does not publish a disapproval rating.

Based on a Nexis review of transcripts for CNN, December 1 through 15 for mentions of 'Bush' and 'poll.' Excludes instances in which hosts, correspondents, or guests made reference to “recent polls” or used other non-specific phrasing.