ABC/Washington Post Poll: Is their any credibility left for these organizations

Doing my daily stroll through the blogosphere, I am reading a post from Jeff Jarvis  about the poll numbers from the ABC/Washington Post. They look horrible for the President.

Do you approve or disapprove of the way Bush is handling Social Security?”
April ’05: Approve – 31 percent, disapprove – 64
Sept. ’03: Approve – 43, disapprove – 46
Not a good trend line, eh?

“Would you support or oppose a plan in which people who chose to could invest some of their Social Security contributions in the stock market?”
April ’05: Support – 45, oppose – 51
Sept. ’03: Support – 64, oppose – 31

“Who[m] do you trust to do a better job handling Social Security: Bush or the Democrats in Congress?”
Bush – 32 percent, Democrats – 50

And I am confused. Is the country that strongly against Social Security? But to Jeff’s credit he includes a link to Ankle Biting Pundits, in a update, who effectively debunk the poll as propaganda.

Oh dear God, how many times do we have to do this? Once again the big headline and story in the Washington Post concerns their new poll allegedly showing President Bush and his policies are as popular as malaria.

Just how bad is it? Take a look at the specific poll data.

Before we get to deep into it, take note that it’s got a 7 point advantage for Democrats over Republicans, and there are 4% more respondents who are “Independent” than Republican. The breakdown in the Post poll is 35% Democrat – 32% Independent – 28% Republican and 5% “Other”. Interesting numbers given that the 2004 elections, party ID was evenly split at 37% each. That means overall, Republicans were undersampled (in terms of people who actually vote) by 9%.

Read the rest, it is worth it. BulldogPundit essentially shows how this poll was crafted to make the President look bad. So it shows a conscious effort by these news organizations to make the news as opposed to reporting the news. I guess I should be immune to this, but is sure does get under my skin.

Update from the Beltway Buzz:

Following the Debate

Rasmussen Reports has some polling data that runs counter to the Washington Post/ABC News poll from this morning. In their polling, Rasmussen found that only 31 percent of Americans are following the battle over judicial filibusters “very closely.”

Meanwhile, when asked if the Senate rules should be changed to give every White House nominee a vote, 56 percent say “yes” and 26 percent say “no.”