Just when I resurrect an old post about the meaningless question "Is the country headed in the right direction?" I see this article about that question the next day.
Talk about hype you can't believe in! The headline screams:
"AP Poll: Americans high on Obama, direction of US"
It then opens with the completely meaningless line: "For the first time in years, more Americans than not say the country is headed in the right direction, a sign that Barack Obama has used the first 100 days of his presidency to lift the public's mood and inspire hopes for a brighter future."
Now after reading that headline and opening sentance, would you not think that the vast majority of America is confident in our direction and giving Obama credit for it all? Think again. Based on the actual facts of the article the headline should have been:
"80 % of American Concerned about Obama's Reckless Spending and Debt"
or
Fewer than Half of Americans Think Country Headed in Right Direction"
or
"Obama's 'Wrong Direction' Fail to Break 50% in first 100 Days"
As I have always said, the "Wrong Direction" question is a useless assessment of anything because it does not define terms or what to change, but if the A.P. is going to use it to write a headline, it should at least reflect the fact that 3 to 4% of the 51% who voted for Obama do not think he is going in the right direction; less than half of the country is "high on Obama."; less than half think we're going in the right direction. Here's what the article with the false headline actually said.
"_More than 90 percent of Americans consider the economy an important issue, the highest ever in AP polling.
_Nearly 80 percent believe that the rising federal debt will hurt future generations, and Obama is getting mixed reviews at best for his handling of the issue.
And yet, the percentage of Americans saying the country is headed in the right direction rose to 48 percent, up from 40 percent in February. Forty-four percent say the nation is on the wrong track."
7 comments:
Let me add this: the hype of the headline is based "telephone interviews on landline and cell phones with 1,000 adults nationwide. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points."
Where area codes did they call? It doesn't say.
I hate it when "they" say the polls say 'such and such'. I live in middle America (Wisconsin to be exact) and very near to very-liberal-Madison! I'm a conservative who has never, ever been polled for anything like the elections, what I think etc. Oh..the phone has rung and when it's been somewhat more locally political...the questions are most certained squewed. I love to so survey calls so I can let them know my thinking! I have to wonder if "the polls" are hiden behind some of these??!!!!
That article (and I didn't read it's entirety) really troubles me because it doesn't exemplify the people I rub shoulders with and have conversation with! I'm deeply troubled with the direction this country is going towards, as are they!!!
WSL
Sorry for ALL the typos!! I should re-read before I post!!!! But this post must have "upset" me so much that I needed to vent!!!
WSL
WSL,
I know what you mean. I think polling 1000 people is meaningless when we don't know the area codes the calls were made in. We know that certain areas vote certain ways. The most significant poll on the question at hand would be to poll the SAME 1000 people and see if they have changed their minds and why. But in this poll the question is meaningless and leads to manipulated interpretations...headlines that say one thing when the facts point to another.
Don't worry about the typos. I make them all the time.
Now with this...the NEW headlines have to do with the Swine Flu and how it's going to be a pandemic and blah, blah, blah. I have to wonder if "the media" is hyping this a bit to get people in a frenzy. Truly I'm not worried about it! We can't do much about it anyway and what good does it do to get all worried????
I still think about the movie "Wag The Dog" and how the media hyped a political story that was entirely untrue. I think there was a "grain of truth" to that story-line!!
WSL
I think your right.
That wag the dog story came out abuot the same time as the Monica Lewinsky scandal and it struck me as prophetic.
But you do make a good point that, as any good magician will tell you, "distraction is needed to pull off a slight-of-hand trick."
I've caught myself lately paying less and less attention so maybe it's working. I know we are to be vigilant but it seems like I've settled for "wait and see."
Just as I logged on to the Internet this a.m. the main headline was something like "UA Is Saying Don't Travel to the U.S." due to the Swine Flu...all non-essential travel is being discouraged!!! Man....we've had flu and worse but this takes the cake!!!! Get the people filled with as much fear as possible then we can control them!!!
WSL
Post a Comment