Thursday, August 26, 2004
CNN's Political Analyst, Bill Schneider, Continues to Mislead Public
As the controversy about the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth continues weekly polls are used to measure the impact it has on each candidate. However the Senior Political Analyst, Bill Schneider continues to mislead the public about that impact. On todays "Inside Politics" with Judy Woodruff, Schneider is again caught embellishing the significance of recent polls. He makes several telling statements from the new CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll.
SCHNEIDER: That point came through. Immediately after the convention, 42 percent of voters said Kerry's military service made them more likely to vote for him, especially when they heard testimony like this.
SCHNEIDER: The debate over the charges monopolized the press coverage. The polls shows more than 80 percent of Americans saw or heard about the ad. Now, do they believe the charges? No. By better than 2-1, people believe Kerry is actually telling the truth about his service in Vietnam. But the controversy still had an impact.
So where is the deception. The new CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll is based on 1,004 adults. That hardly seems like 80% of the Americans that he claims saw or heard about the Swiftboat ad or the 2-1 figure cited as the number of American people who believe Kerry is telling the truth. Bill Schneider is misleading the American public.
His colleague, Judy Woodruff today also reported the following:
WOODRUFF: All right. Bill Schneider. A lot to look at in those numbers. Thank you very much. Well, our new poll also suggests that President Bush has not come out of the Swift Boat flap unscathed either. Fifty percent of those surveyed believe the president is responsible or some what responsible for the Swift Boat ads. And 56 percent say the president should denounce the ads.
The key is that she at least alluded to the fact that this result was based on a participant group and not the American public. A good start, but they need to go further and cite the sample size each time they report the results. Anything less is misleading.
