May 15, 2006
An Incongruent Comparison (by guest blogger Dorian Davis)
CNN compares Bill Clinton to George W. Bush
No organization scoring such pathetic numbers opposite Fox News is in a position to denounce low ratings, but CNN seems bent on precisely that in its issue-by-issue comparison of Bill Clinton to George W. Bush. The problem with this poll is that it compares a retired president, absolved of responsibility, to a current, controversial, president in the midst of a War on Terror. Worse, it compares the lowest poll numbers that Bush has ever received to the highest poll numbers that Clinton has ever received. And, since CNN never commissioned a comparison of Bush to Clinton when Bush’s approval numbers surpassed 90%, it is hard to imagine why, at this moment, in May 2006, it has suddently realized the intrinsic value of a Bush-Clinton match-up. Why?
Posted by Dorian at May 15, 2006 09:59 AM | TrackBackTechnorati Tags: Bill+Clinton+Poll+Numbers Bush+Poll+Numbers Bush+Clinton
Yeah but I also remember polls from the mid 90s which showed the first president Bush beating Clinton. When a president appears to be in free fall, the media is always willing to help keep him down (especially if it is a Republican).
Posted by: Von Bek at May 15, 2006 10:09 AM"Worse, it compares the lowest poll numbers that Bush has ever received to the highest poll numbers that Clinton has ever received."
How did you arrive at that conclusion?
The first 4 words of the article are:
"In a new poll"
Paul-
This poll compares two presidents, one former and one sitting, who are in completely different places, one retired, living in private life, experiencing, arguably, his highest popularity ever, and one active, in office, experiencing his lowest popularity ever. It's a bogus comparison.
Posted by: Dorian Davis at May 15, 2006 10:35 AMThe fact that a larger number of people thought Clinton was more honest suggests the polling sample might not be representative - (as much as I liked the guy as a president, honesty is not particularly high on his list of good qualities - with bush, he might not tell you the truth, and to the extent the info. he gives is twisted or imcomplete it tends to be a bit more important, but I don't think he's affirmatively lying either...)
Posted by: Alceste at May 15, 2006 10:53 AMCNN- still on their knees for Bill Clinton.
Posted by: Barry at May 15, 2006 10:55 AMJust as I suspected. There is NO comparison. (for the first time ever, I agree with Dorian). "Honesty," between the two is relative and Bush has brought Honesty to an all time low.
Posted by: toby at May 15, 2006 01:07 PM
