Gallup defends itself against Limbaugh slur
November 20th, 2009 at 08:11am Pat Cunningham
 
 With no evidence to support his charge, radio blabber Rush Limbaugh says the Gallup polling organization is cooking its numbers to keep President Obama’s approval ratings above 50 percent.
 Gallup’s Frank Newport (above) SAYS that’s bunk.
 Indeed, three of six recent polls, each conducted by an independent firm, have Obama’s rating higher than Gallup has it, as we see HERE. Notice, too, that each of those three polls measures opinions of American adults in general, while the others cover only registered voters or so-called likely voters.
 UPDATE: A Gallup Daily Tracking Poll released today SHOWS Obama’s approval rating slipping below 5o percent for the first time.
Entry Filed under: Gallup poll, Rush Limbaugh, Barack Obama
7 Comments Add your own
1. Roger | November 20th, 2009 at 8:17 am
Fox poll has him at 46% approval.
2. Neftali | November 20th, 2009 at 9:07 am
That 36% disapprove from CBS sticks out like a sore thumb. Of course, this can be explained by their sampling of 24% Republicans compared to 37% Democrats. I’m surprised such a biased sample is even allowed to figure into the RCP Average.
In the “Sample” column, I take it “LV” stands for “likely voters”. Does anyone know what the “A” and “RV” stands for?
3. Pat Cunningham | November 20th, 2009 at 9:12 am
Wow! Roger can read the stuff to which I linked. And he points to the poll that has the lowest approval rating for Obama — just in case the rest of us missed it.
Let me see if I can play that game, Roger. The ABC/Washington Post poll has him at 56 percent approval.
4. Pat Cunningham | November 20th, 2009 at 9:25 am
Neftali: Several things:
1) “LV” means likely voters, which is a dubious model when you consider that the next presidential election is 36 months away. “RV” means registered voters. “A” means all American adults.
2) The imbalance between Republicans and Democrats in the poll is NOT evidence of bias. It relates to the fact that more people identify themselves as Democrats than Republicans. Virtually every poll on party identification shows that to be true. The CBS poll to which you refer has the Dem/GOP split at 37-24. The latest ABC/Wasington Post poll has it at 35-21.
It would make no sense to poll equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans when the public is not equally divided between the two parties. What they do is poll a random cross-section of the public and ask them, among other things, which party they identify with.
To do it the way you seem to prefer would be akin to polling equal numbers of Republicans, Democrats and members of the Libertarian Party. The results of such a skewed poll would be utterly worthless.
5. Roger | November 20th, 2009 at 9:26 am
Pat I knew I could count on you,Always a demeaning comment. Funny Fox polls are important to you when in your favor.
Like others have and since you can not say much without sarcasm its time for me to move on to a different site to DISCUSS different views.
I know I’m not one of your buddies or big contributers and you won’t give a crap but enough.
6. Pat Cunningham | November 20th, 2009 at 9:32 am
OK, Roger. Perhaps I was a bit snide in my remarks. Sorry.
Regarding Fox News polls, yes, I generally consider them fairly reliable — but sometimes with qualifications. In this case, I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of the Fox poll reading on Obama’s approval rating. I would note, however, that the Fox poll covered only registered voters. By contrast, CBS, ABC and Gallup polls cover adults in general. In effect, then, the latter polls are measuring a different audience from that of the Fox poll.
7. DingDong | November 20th, 2009 at 11:21 am
What I don’t see Pat pointing out is that all the polls that used Likely or Registered voters are lower than all adults. LV and RV are typically going to be people that actually will vote.
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