Explaining Obama's favorable poll numbers

You may've missed this AP piece breathtakingly reporting Obama's 'good' news:

Millions of people jobless. Billions of dollars in bailouts. Trillions of dollars in U.S. debt. And yet, for the first time in years, more Americans than not say the country is on the right track.

In a sign that Barack Obama has inspired hopes for a brighter future in the first 100 days of his presidency, an Associated Press-GfK poll shows that 48 percent of Americans believe the United States is headed in the right direction — compared with 44 percent who disagree.

The "right direction" number is up 8 points since February and a remarkable 31 points since October, the month before Obama's election.

Intensely worried about their personal finances and medical expenses, Americans nonetheless appear realistic about the time Obama might need to turn things around, according to the AP-GfK poll. It shows, as Obama approaches his 100th day in office next Wednesday, most people consider their new president to be a strong, ethical and empathetic leader who is working to change Washington.

"He presents a very positive outlook," said Cheryl Wetherington, 35, an independent voter who runs a chocolate shop in Gardner, Kan. "He's very well-spoken and very vocal about what direction should be taken."

Nobody knows how long the honeymoon will last, but Obama has clearly transformed the yes-we-can spirit of his candidacy into a tool of governance. His ability to inspire confidence — Obama's second book is titled "The Audacity of Hope" — has thus far buffered the president against the harsh realities of two wars, a global economic meltdown and countless domestic challenges.

Read that again after reading the following:

... digging deeper, it turns out

36% of those polled were Democrats
18% Republican
26% Independent
18% None claimed

In the 2008 election the spread between Democrats and Republicans was 6.5 percentage points not 18 and independents made up 22% of the vote not 26%.

It appears that there have been similar distortions in the various polls measuring Obama's approval ratings.

Two times the number of Democrats as Republicans... in a poll judging a Democrat...

Hmmm...

I wasn't kidding, go back now and read the AP piece again, then ask yourself... what media bias?

Comments

[EricTheRed]

Bada bing bada boom: http://vocalminority.typepad.com/blog/2009/04/liberal-media-bias-ap-fixes-poll-by-polling-twice-as-many-dems-than-gopers.html

[Charlie]

Maybe the 2-1 Democrat/Republican ratio just reflects the way the AP would *like* the world to be?

[Susan]

Very interesting, indeed. I had been reading the glowing polls on Obama and, considering the current state of our nation, wondered how such a great opinion was possible. This helps explain ...