Adventures in Fox News polling

June 29, 2007

As Eric Kleefeld noted, there’s a real gem towards the end of the latest Fox News poll (.pdf).

This has to be a first. In its new poll, Fox News asked what may well be the ultimate in jingoistic, rally-around-the-flag questions — and the Democrats came out on top:

“If there is an all-out war between the United States and various radical Muslim groups worldwide, who would you rather have in charge — Democrats or Republicans?”

Democrats 41%, Republicans 38%, Both the same 9%, Don’t know 12%

As Eric put it, “The question of which party the people would trust more to lead World War III against a global coalition of Islamofascists should have been a gimme for the Republicans. But they couldn’t even manage to get a plurality.” Ouch.

Of course, given the rather silly wording of the question, this probably wasn’t the result Fox News was hoping for. Indeed, once a month the partisan network releases a poll, and once a month we see shamelessly slanted questions that no legitimate news outlet would ever want to include in a valid survey.

In last month’s national FNC poll, respondents were asked:

“Recently Democratic Leader of the Senate Harry Reid said that the war ‘is lost’ in Iraq. Do you feel this was an acceptable thing or an unacceptable thing for Reid to say while U.S. troops are still in the field fighting?”

In April, Fox News asked:

* Do you think illegal immigrants from Mexico should be given special treatment and allowed to jump in front of immigrants from other countries that want to come to the United States legally, or not?

* Considering that over the past twelve months the stock market is up, employment has increased and the disposable income of U.S. workers has increased, do you think the news media has generally done a good job or bad job providing accurate news about the nation’s economy?

March’s FNC poll had these gems:

* Do you think a Congressional investigation into the dismissal of the eight federal prosecutors is a good use of taxpayer money?

* Who do you trust more to decide when U.S. troops should leave Iraq — U.S. military commanders or Members of Congress?

* Do you think the Democratic Party should allow a grassroots organization like Moveon.org to take it over or should it resist this type of takeover?

Pretty soon, someone might get the sense that Fox News is trying to skew its polls to advance some kind of political agenda. Shocking, I know.

The Alhurra “poll” is just a psychological attack on the American public. Disgusting.

  • It’s a nice feeling to turn on the computer, come to this site, and discover that the Evil Rupert Empire’s political universe has begun to “expand in reverse.” But when you’re talking about an evolutionary anomaly of the Nth order (formewrly referred to as “bipedal knuckledraggers with negative intelligence quotients), I suppose a healthy does of “de-evolutionary implosion” should be expected.

    Sorry, massah Murdock—survival of the fittest and all that, you know….

  • The question of which party the people would trust more to lead World War III against a global coalition of Islamofascists should have been a gimme for the Republicans.

    Not really.

    Considering that over the past twelve months the stock market is up, employment has increased and the disposable income of U.S. workers has increased, do you think the news media has generally done a good job or bad job providing accurate news about the nation’s economy?

    Well if over longer than 12 months we declined on these and other measures of the economy, and then over 12 months we just have a little recovery, then relative to the years preceding the last few years, the economy is doing bad and the so-called recovery isn’t something to brag about- it’s a fig leaf you use to try to mislead people.

  • I guess we should expect the Wall Street Journal to follow in the path of Fox News on this type of “journalism” should Rupert succeed in getting his hands on it. … Not that the WSJ editorial board wasn’t singing Mr. Murdoch’s choir already.

  • Well, they didn’t get the result they wanted, I think, because they dialed down the push-poll aspect of the questioning just a wee bit, probably because the blogosphere and other pollsters have been calling them on it.

    Left to their own devices, I think they would have used wording like “If there is an all-out war between the United States and various radical Muslim groups worldwide, who would you rather have in charge — a party that has called for a timetable for surrender in Iraq or a party that has remained steadfast in the War on Terror?”

  • Why don’t the Dems do something about changing the law that allows media companies to own more than one type of media or pass a law that says foreign nationals cannot own American media? That would bring Rupert to a grinding halt.

  • Frak: Rupert Murdoch has been an American citizen since 1985. I guess he saw that tactic coming.

    The Wall Street Journal editorial slant won’t be any worse under Murdoch than it already is. How could it be any worse than it already is?

    But otherwise, the WSJ is a great newspaper. Most of their reporters and news editors are embarrassed by the editorial and op-ed pages. They do great in-depth journalism. Murdoch ownership will destroy that great journalism and make the Journal a carbon copy of Fox News.

    A disaster for American journalism, which is already in bad shape.

  • Thanks, OkieFM–my bad. So okay, let’s just pass a law against guys named Rupert. Or better yet, my first suggestion–bar individuals and companies from owning more than one type of media. I believe that’s how it was in the good old days–no?

  • Don’t forget the time they asked who the worst person in the country was, and Bush was far and away the leader in that poll, yet with the contradicting evidence showing right on the screen they had the gall to announce the runner-up as the winner. (It was Britney Spears or some other celebrity.)

  • Frac, I agree 100%. Yes, there is way too much concentration of media ownership, and that’s a lot of what’s wrong with the media. Unfortunately, we are going to need a Democratic president and 60 loyal Democrats in the Senate before we can do anything about it. The Republicans will fight to the death against anything that attacks Big Media. Once passed, the bill will probably be suspended in the courts for years, with the Supremes zealously protecting the First Amendment rights of large corporations to the exclusion of the rest of us.

    But let’s get the process started in January 2009…

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