« Feb 3rd Predictions | Main | Electability »
February 03, 2004
Media Bias
Back when W. was riding high in head-to-head matchups with Kerry/Dean/Edwards/etc the story line was "do Democrats even have a chance this November?" Now that Kerry and Edwards are both besting Bush in head-to-head matchups CNN is careful to report something along the line of polls taken for theoretical matchups this far out don't really mean much.
Well what is it? Either they meant something when Bush was outpolling Democrats and the Dem nomination was viewed as a curiosity -- kind of like some media masturbatory exercise to pick the winner of the losers since the general election wouldn't even be close -- or they didn't and they should have given the exact same disclosure.
On a personal note, I (and most pollsters) think the only important number in polling this far out is the incumbent's re-elect number. It doesn't matter if Bush is matched up against a magical un-named candidate with the military experience of Kerry and the personal appeal of Edwards or anyone else. He was polling in the low 50's when he was unbeatable and now below 50 when suddenly these polls don't mean anything at all. Both numbers should have signalled vulnerability but I think ultimately the media doesn't think it's audience is smart enough for such sophisticated analysis.
Posted by Chris at February 3, 2004 04:01 PM
Comments
Well the media is afraid of being called liberals. Probably because they predominantly are but try to be fair, and bend over backwards because all the liberal bias crap. It's a good racket, I think Alterman wrote a book on it.
Posted by: Wes at February 4, 2004 12:06 AM
I think that they are downplaying the trouble that Bush is in politicially, because they are still reporting the 'divided nation' story and have pretty graphics of a yin-yang like Elephonkey to show behind Aaron Brown's sholder.
The over the sholder graphic for the 'Liberals and Conservatives agree: Bush Administration trying to cover Stupid Sorry Ass yet again' story is not back from Kinko's yet.
Posted by: jon at February 4, 2004 12:52 AM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)