The folks at Gallup are starting to annoy me.

Last week, they trumpeted the fact that Obama, according to their polling results, had fallen to his “lowest” point in his presidency. Gallup made a very big deal about the finding and glossed over the fact that Obama's new bench mark was exactly one point below his previous low.

Yes, one point. That was the news hook. (And yes, that one point clearly fell within Gallup's margin of error.) So how does Gallup describe its latest finding regarding the passage of health care reform?

Behold [emphasis added]:

By Slim Margin, Americans Support Healthcare Bill's Passage.

And what, exactly, constitutes that “slim margin” in today's deeply polarized political world? Two points? Four points? Try nine (i.e. 49 - 40%)

So when Obama's approval rating inched down from 47 to 46%, it was a very big deal, according to Gallup. But when a sudden and large gap opens up in terms of how American view health care reform, that's simply a “slim margin.”

Good to know.