Thursday, January 25, 2007

People love to pick what pleases them...

That seems to be the case as we see a number of folks jumping for joy over the news that President Bush has an approval rating of only 28%. Reality is that this poll came from CBS News, who as we all recall did a wonderful job of reporting false news during the 2004 election and that led the the downfall of Dan Rather.

In addition to this, sometimes it is a wise idea to see if anyone else agrees with that particular number. So, what I did was look at a number of polls and here is what we got:

CBS News: 28% Approve 64% Disapprove
ABC News: 33% Approve 65% Disapprove
NBC News: 35% Approve 60% Disapprove
Fox News: 35% Approve 58% Disapprove
Gallup: 36% Approve 61% Disapprove
Rasmussen: 39% Approve 60% Disapprove
AP: 36% Approve 61% Disapprove
CNN: 34% Approve 64% Disapprove
Newsweek: 31% Approve 62% Disapprove
Average: 34% Approve 62% Disapprove

So what does this prove? Well, for starters, the President's numbers aren't the greatest in the world. Anyone could easily tell you that. What this does show is that basing your information off of one source is never a good diea. Yes, poll data does change from week to week, but these numbers are all the most recent polling numbers that have come out.

In addition to this, the Average number I came up with off of those nine polls are identical to Real Clear Politics and their poll average. So my advice for everyone is that before you start saying whatever poll number you find is the greatest thing since sliced bread, be sure to double check on the numbers and make sure it isn't a fluke.

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