CNN Uses Slanted Poll To Suggest Obama Won The Debate
After watching that snoozer of a debate last night I don’t think it’s fair to say that either candidate won, but CNN is running a headline about a poll which suggests that viewers thought Obama won:
Fifty-one percent of those polled thought Obama did the better job in Friday night’s debate, while 38 percent said John McCain did better.
Here’s the problem, though, which we don’t learn until the second-to-last paragraph in the article:
The results may be favoring Obama simply because more Democrats than Republicans tuned in to the debate. Of the debate-watchers questioned in this poll, 41 percent of the respondents identified themselves as Democrats, 27 percent as Republicans and 30 percent as independents.
Well of course a poll with that sort of sample is going to suggest that Obama won.
Update: Cripes, the AP is reporting these poll numbers too and they don’t even bother to mention the sample disparity.
