Sunday, May 03, 2009

Greasing The Polls


Carl in Jerusalem and Jim over at Gateway are concerned about a recent poll showing that 79% of American Jews support Obama, arguably the most anti-Israel president in history.

And that 67% of American Catholics support Obama even though he is radically pro-abortion to the point he endorses infanticide.

Let's be polite and say I have my doubts about the numbers.

This poll was conducted by Gallup.

You'll remember that the good folks at Gallup predicted a 14% win for Prez Zero back in November of '08 - and they were only a mere ten points off. Also, they never release their mechanics, especially when it comes to the wording of questions or the party affiliations of respondants, and they now have Obama with a 67% approval rating. as opposed to Rasmussen at 54%, one of the lowest ever for a president only one hundred days into his first term.

Another bit of evidence that this poll is a tad bogus comes when you look at the number of Americans who consider the country to be on the wrong track. Qunnipiac's latest poll shows that 63% of Americans say the country is headed in the wrong direction. Even the crazies at Daily Kos have a poll that shows that number at 53%!

With those figures, do the numbers Gallup is reporting on Obama add up?

As I've pointed out before, what polls like this typically do is oversample Democrats, usually by at least 20% - and undersample Republicans and independents, who tend to lean conservative. And remember, Gallup recently said that Dems only enjoy a 7% advantage in the electorate. Which may not be at all true, if you listen to Rasmussen.

Does Obama still have significant support among lefty Jews and Catholics? Probably. But is it anything like the numbers Gallup is reporting?

Pull the handle...I think we can safely flush this one.



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