June 29, 2005
Manufacturing Support
How the Washington Post Lied about Its Own War Poll
By MIKE SCHAEFER
In a deceitful boost to Bush on the morning of his
Iraq address, the Washington Post and ABC News
released a poll of U.S. public opinion on Iraq. But
the Post's numbers in their print version (in the body
of the article) underestimates the "Out Now" position
by more than 3 times. One has to look at their actual
numbers (Poll Data) to see that support for "staying
the course" is much smaller than the article suggests.
The Washington Post has published the results of their
joint survey with ABC News on the front page today
under the heading "Survey Finds Most Support Staying
in Iraq - Public Skeptical About Gains Against
Insurgents" by Richard Morin and Dan Balz.
The first two paragraphs read:
"a new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that
most Americans do not believe the administration's
claims
that impressive gains are being made against
the insurgency, but a clear majority is willing to
keep U.S. forces there for an extended time to
stabilize the country.
The survey found that only one in eight Americans
currently favors an immediate pullout of U.S. forces,
while a solid majority continues to agree with Bush
that the United States must remain in Iraq until civil
order is restored -- a goal that most of those
surveyed acknowledge is, at best, several years away."
The article misrepresents the actual numbers as
published under "Poll Data" which can be accessed
through the article's webpage
Question #7 under "Poll Data" reads: "Do you think the
United States should keep its military forces in Iraq
until civil order is restored there, even if that
means continued U.S. military casualties; OR, do you
think the United States should withdraw its military
forces from Iraq in order to avoid further U.S.
military
casualties, even if it means civil order is
not restored there?
Keep forces = 58%
Withdraw forces = 41%
No opinion = 2%
41% is just over two out of five, not "one in eight"
(12.5%) as the second paragraph suggests. And 8% over
half is not a "solid majority" for "staying the
course." It would be more accurately described as a
"slim majority!
I have studied the Poll Data, and I don't know where
the Post gets "one in eight" for immediate pullout.
The graph on the website that reads "Just your best
guess, about how much longer do you think the United
States will need to keep U.S. military forces in
Iraq?" (Question #15) shows just 6% support "pull out
now," which is not "one in eight;" it's less than half
that: one in sixteen. But Question #15 can be
understood as a strategic and not a political
question, and so it is not as reliable question of
U.S. support for continued occupation vs withdrawal as
question
#7.
If this was an accident, it was a pretty sloppy one.
Mike Schaefer can be reached at: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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