Fox & Friends Repeatedly Cherry-Picks Obama's Poll Numbers. Again.

Written by Melody Johnson

Published

Thursday on Fox & Friends, the co-hosts and contributors continually cherry-picked President Obama's poll numbers, repeatedly citing a Quinnipiac University poll on Obama's job approval, despite it seemingly being an outlier among similar national polls. This is business as usual for Fox, which frequently cherry-picks polls to advance its anti-Obama agenda.

It's not as if these polls are hard to find, especially with sites that compile similar polls in one convenient location. However, Fox wouldn't be Fox if it didn't go ahead and find a poll that fits its agenda to report on, as it frequently does with often dubious Rasmussen polls. Not to be misunderstood in their intent, Fox & Friends repeatedly referenced the March 30 Quinnipiac poll during today's broadcast.

Some instances:

  • Shortly after showing the Quinnipiac poll results, on-screen text read: “President's Ratings Plummet” while co-host Gretchen Carlson stated: “He officially is going to kick off the campaign in a couple of weeks, obviously you don't want to go into it with those kind of poll numbers.”
  • Carlson later teased a segment regarding the results of the Quinnipiac poll by stating: “President Obama tanking in the polls. Is the man known for his public speaking now losing his ability to persuade the American people?”
  • Carlson hosted Fox News contributors Juan Williams and Andrea Tantaros to discuss the president's approval rating, which they reported was at an all-time low. During the segment, Carlson cited and showed the recent Quinnipiac poll, which Tantaros backed up by citing a similar Rasmussen poll. Williams referred to the poll as “bottom feeding,” citing national averages reported by Real Clear Politics which contrast with results of the two aforementioned polls.
  • Co-host Steve Doocy cited the Quinnipiac poll which showed Obama's approval rating at 42 percent, which Doocy declared was “the lowest he's had in his history as president.”
  • Citing the Quinnipiac poll, co-host Brian Kilmeade stated: “After being on a roll after the Tuscon speech and the lame duck session he seems to be having a pretty hard time now. According to his overall approval ratings.”

Watch:

But anyone can easily find the numerous poll results that are more favorable to Obama. Like these:

  • In an AP/GfK poll conducted between March 24 and 28, 53 percent of those polled said they approved of the job Obama is doing, with 45 percent saying that they disapproved.
  • A CNN/Opinion Research poll conducted between March 18 and 20 found that 51 percent approve of the job Obama is doing versus 47 percent who disapprove.
  • In a Fox News poll conducted between March 14 and 16, results show that 49 percent of those polled approved of the job the president is doing, with 44 percent disapproving and 7 percent unsure.
  • In an ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted between March 10 and 13, 51 percent said that they approved of the was Obama is handling his job, with 45 percent disapproving and 4 percent unsure.
  • In a Bloomberg National Poll conducted between March 4 and 7, 51 percent said they approved of the job Obama is doing, while 43 percent disapproved.

It should come as no surprise that Fox cherry-picked a poll that made Obama look bad. After all, its known for this kind of tripe.