Topic: WaPo fails to publish its own poll: Obama care at record low
heavenlyboy34's photo
Sat 01/22/11 07:18 PM
http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2010/12/14/amazing-wapo-fails-publish-own-poll-obamacares-lowest-popularity-ever

A new ABC-Washington Post poll found ObamaCare sunk to its lowest popularity yet: 52 percent opposed, and only 43 percent in favor. ABC mentioned the poll without fanfare at the end of a Jake Tapper report on Monday’s World News, and Tapper added this was the health law's "lowest level of popularity ever." But Tuesday’s Washington Post reported not one sentence on the poll in the paper – even as they reported in the paper that the same survey found Obama’s tax-and-unemployment-compensation deal has “broad bipartisan support.”

This is the same Post that highlighted the news on Page One on October 20, 2009, when they found a “clear majority” in favor of a socialist “public option” -- amid charges they oversampled Democrats.

The numbers weren't excluded because they arrived late. The Post poll numbers went up on the website yesterday at about 1 pm, under the headline “Health care opponents divided on repeal.” That obscured the numbers a bit, as Cohen found a “slim majority” (not a “clear majority”?) currently oppose ObamaCare:

Overall, 52 percent of those polled oppose the overhaul to the health care system, 43 percent are supportive of it. Fully 86 percent of Republicans are against the legislation; 67 percent of Democrats support it. Independents divide down the middle, with 47 percent in favor and the same number opposed.

Cohen made no mention of that phrase "lowest level of popularity ever." He did try to suggest that the individual mandate was wildly unpopular -- implying other parts of ObamaCare are still worth keeping:

Among the general public, the Kaiser poll showed 68 percent supportive of a repeal of the individual mandate. Of four core components of the health care law tested in the poll, the individual mandate was the one with the highest negatives, by far. Seventy percent of all those polled said they held an unfavorable view of the requirement that everyone carry insurance, including 52 percent who had "strongly unfavorable" opinions.

The omission of the new poll was so stunning, we double-checked. Obviously, the Post reported Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's win in federal court, with a ruling that found ObamaCare's individual mandate unconstitutional, but that story by Rosalind Helderman and Amy Goldstein never included Post poll numbers -- even as the story ended with the notiong:

Altman, of the Kaiser foundation, said Monday's ruling would, in the long run, prove less significant to the law's fate than the overall political climate. "There are going to be a lot of twists and turns," he said. "Ultimately, if President Obama is reelected in 2012, the law will be pretty much as it is." A change in administration, he said, could pose the biggest threat.

So if today's "political climate" is more important than a judge's decision, where is the Post poll? It looks like a very bizarre case of poll-and-hide.

Read more: http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2010/12/14/amazing-wapo-fails-publish-own-poll-obamacares-lowest-popularity-ever#ixzz1BpCbQvMm

heavenlyboy34's photo
Sat 01/22/11 07:21 PM
oops Title should be "WaPo fails to publish poll showing OC at lowest approval rate yet", or something to that effect. My bad!

AdventureBegins's photo
Sat 01/22/11 07:47 PM
Although not as far right leaning as the way left leaning mediamatters the quoted site is a 501(3)c

i.e part of the political machine.

i.e. has an agenda that needs money to pursue.

501(3)c organizations should allways be examined with a suspcious eye.

I did find articles posted on this site that offered differing opinions so they do have something closer to an actual 'balance' but tha major portion of their articles were right lean.

heavenlyboy34's photo
Sat 01/22/11 08:10 PM

Although not as far right leaning as the way left leaning mediamatters the quoted site is a 501(3)c

i.e part of the political machine.

i.e. has an agenda that needs money to pursue.

501(3)c organizations should allways be examined with a suspcious eye.

I did find articles posted on this site that offered differing opinions so they do have something closer to an actual 'balance' but tha major portion of their articles were right lean.


Like anything on the webbernets, take it FWIW. :thumbsup: drinker

InvictusV's photo
Sun 01/23/11 06:31 AM
This is in the article.


"Overall, Americans' views of the sweeping health-care overhaul, again under debate on Capitol Hill, remain firmly entrenched, with little change in stiff partisanship on the issue. Some 45 percent of those polled support the law, and 50 percent oppose it, numbers that exactly match their averages in Post-ABC polls going back to August 2009."


"As reported Monday, for the first time in Post-ABC polling, congressional Republicans are now tied with President Obama on the question of whom the public trusts when it comes to dealing with health-care change. Overall, 43 percent of Americans approve of the way the president is handling the issue, matching a career low; 52 percent disapprove."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/18/AR2011011804665.html

Fanta46's photo
Mon 01/24/11 10:58 PM
The wording makes the difference.