MSNBC Lies about Post-Debate Poll April 26, 2007
Posted by Chris in Politics.trackback
A strong charge, but a fair one. It would seem that the slight observed bias of Countdown host Kieth Olbermann toward Senator Barock Obama extends beyond cleverly worded questions to outright misrepresentation of facts.
When talking about MSNBC’s online poll, Olbermann said that Barock Obama clearly “wom the debate”, because of a high approval rating. However, the poll tracks pre-debate scores as well as post-debate, and the poll tells a different story than Mister Olbermann does.
In fact, Barock Obama lost one percentage point in the MSNBC online poll. It would seem, that what was reported as a victory actually was a flesh wound.In contrast, Hillary gained considerable ground after the debate.
Perhaps this was a blunder, but for newsmen who call for the truth of candidates to not fact-check their statements is hypocrisy at its finest.
It doesn’t matter what people’s perceptions were before the debate. Only their perceptions after–and after the debate, 45% still thought favorably of Mr. Obama, while only 34% thought favorably of Ms. Clinton.
If a canditate had gone from 0% to 9% would you declare them the winner?
In any case, a 1% loss is hardly a flesh wound–it’s less than the margin of error.