On October 8th of last year, less than a month before the midterm elections, CBS News issued a poll. Here is how I described it in a blog I wrote the next day:
Its new poll came out – showing that, less than a month before the midterm elections, Democrats are in disastrous shape, and – if the poll bears out on election day – will get their clocks cleaned in epic fashion.
Big news, right? Except – again from my blog at that time:
Last night, with these data, from his own network\’s polling, Scott Pelley did not report the findings of CBS\’s own poll. Not at all. Not one word.
With this in mind, here is an excerpt from Curtis Houck\’s latest blog at newsbusters.org:
Atthe conclusion of a story on Wednesday’s CBS Evening News…CBS Newssenior business correspondent Anthony Mason felt that it wasimportant to inform viewers that President Obama\’s approval ratinghas improved six points from October in the latest CBS News poll.
Earlier in the report, Mason covered other numbers fromthe poll, such as 53 percent of Americans saying that “the economyis in good shape,” which is almost an eight-year high in CBS Newspolling. Two other numbers mentioned were 56 percent replying that”their local job market is good” and 57 percent replying that”the slide in oil prices is making the economy better.”
The CBSEvening News\’s move in covering these favorable numbers for thePresident stands in stark contrast to their near blackout of pollnumbers for the President ahead of the midterm elections.
My only quibble is the word “near”. It wasn\’t a “near” blackout in October, it was a complete one.
Media bias? Naaaahhhhhh.
Incidentally, CBS\’s euphoria over those poll numbers may well be short-lived. Now that we have seen President Obama in action – or should I say inaction – regarding Sunday\’s March in Paris and his administration\’s refusal to blame radical Islam for what radical Islam does, they will probably tank down again.
Margaret Thatcher once said (paraphrased) that socialism works until you run out of other people\’s money. President Obama\’s poll numbers are good until he has to act on something which tests his competency level.
