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Obama's job rating goes up; Politico says down
Politico posted an article today with regard to a new USA Today/Gallup poll in which Barack Obama receives a 61% job approval and a 35% job disapproval. This is an improvement of 3% in the approval department (it was 58% in the next most recent USA Today/Gallup poll) and a 1% improvement in the disapproval department (it was 35% back then, 34% now).
Source: Pollingreport.com
The headline falsely gives the impression that Obama's overall job has suffered in this poll. That's false, and Politico's reputation will suffer as a consequence.
Yet the headline chosen by Politico reads:
POTUS JOB RATING DOWN
Granted, the approval of the President handling of the economy went down by 4%, but the job of a President also includes foreign policy, social issues, etc, in addition to the economy, which is obviously a very important issue, but does not by itself represent Obama's job.
The headline falsely gives the impression that Obama's overall job has suffered in this poll. That's false, and Politico's reputation will suffer as a consequence.
By contrast, here's a much better headline by CQpolitics covering the same poll in question:
Obama's job approval steady, except on the deficit and spending
The Politico gives its readers neither an email address nor a feeback page to contact Carol E. Lee, the author responsible for this piece.
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Nice catch.
June 8, 2009 6:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Agreed. Also thanks for naming names.
June 9, 2009 9:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
I like seeing this once in a while. A little comparative web without having to just announce that fox called Obama a liar and that Keith O is mad at cheney. ha
June 8, 2009 7:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nice, real good catch
June 8, 2009 7:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you want to know who Politico thinks its audience is, pick a story at random and read the comments. 5:1 wingiest of wingnuts. Say what you will about them, they're voracious consumers of news-like products as long as they don't, in any way, challenge their preconceptions.
June 8, 2009 8:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
You are right and it is interesting to read some of the really hateful comments, then check out the results of Politico's polls... they are almost all positive! Most overwhelming positive!
Are there just a few people posting all the hateful comments, under different names?
Just seems strange.
June 8, 2009 10:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
You are absolutely right and given that sites like TPM & Politico make their money from Advertising they need a loyal dedicated base of visitors. If they find that tilting to one side or another gives them an increase in their key metrics; no doubt they are going to tilt further.
June 9, 2009 1:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Indeed!
So many of the comments begin with trash like "Ha-hah! The problem with the liberals is that they are too stupid to never even..."
June 9, 2009 2:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
In times like these, it is the job of the President to tell people some things they don't want to hear. Obama's extraordinary political and personal skills are demonstrated by the very high personal approval rating he still enjoys, and the still moderately favorable rating he enjoys on a variety of issues, many quite contentious, in the face of economic realities that have subjected him to relentless attacks by adversaries. Fortunately, most Americans appear willing to acknowledge a need to take actions now whose benefits might not be realized until later, after an interval of continued hardship.
Even so, if his job ratings had not dropped at least a bit at this point, we would have reason to conclude that he had been shirking his responsibilities.
June 8, 2009 10:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thought you might find this interesting:
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/flavius/2009/06/thank-you-kevin-one-more-time.php?ref=reccafe
June 9, 2009 11:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Good catch. Thanks for pointing this out.
I rarely view Politico and definitely want to stay clear if they are not allowing people to communicate with them.
Others have mentioned the commenters on the site. I have to say that I am often shocked by the comments I see when I wander around on other sites and it gives me a greater appreciation for a majority of our intelligent and diverse bloggers and commenters on TPM.
June 8, 2009 11:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well said. I could not agree more. I used to spend a lot of time at Huffington post but I am getting very disgusted with their misleading headlines and gestapo tactics used on commenters
June 9, 2009 2:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ben Smith is not too bad.
Johnathan Martin and Mike Allen are Republican hacks.
June 8, 2009 11:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
My not-too-official list of Politico people to read...
- Ben Smith (pretty even-handed blog)
- Michael Calderone (good media blog)
- Josh Kraushaar (great state and local campaign coverage)
I would generally recommend staying far away from the comments sections of their main stories.
June 9, 2009 12:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
WTF?! I know people like to make fun of wingers and the corporate media for trying to claim that "up is down," but I never thought I would literally see a newspaper claiming exactly that. Is there any satire left in this world that remains just satire?
June 9, 2009 5:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Headline after two man race:
"OUR GUY FINISHES SECOND!!! THEIR GUY FINISHES SECOND TO LAST!!!"
June 9, 2009 5:24 PM | Reply | Permalink