Iraq Poll Touted by Drudge Doesn't Add Up

There's a word curiously absent from Matt Drudge's story about a new poll of 800 Americans on the Iraq War:

In the wake of the U.S. House of Representatives passing a resolution that amounts to a vote of no confidence in the Bush administration's policies in Iraq, a new national survey by Alexandria, VA-based Public Opinion Strategies (POS) shows the American people may have some different ideas from their elected leaders on this issue. ...

The survey shows Americans want to win in Iraq, and that they understand Iraq is the central point in the war against terrorism and they can support a U.S. strategy aimed at achieving victory, said Neil Newhouse, a partner in POS. The idea of pulling back from Iraq is not where the majority of Americans are.

By a 53 percent -- 46 percent margin, respondents surveyed said that Democrats are going too far, too fast in pressing the President to withdraw troops from Iraq.

The word Republican's never used to describe Public Opinion Strategies, a polling firm whose pro-GOP sentiments are made clear on its web site, where the company responded to the November election with a press release titled "Public Opinion Strategies mourns Republican losses."

For some reason, the partisan nature of POS isn't being mentioned by Drudge, Rush Limbaugh, the New York Post and popular right-wing blogs such as Power Line, WizBang and Outside the Beltway. The last one's the most glaring omission, since Outside the Beltway blogger James Joyner is married to the company's chief operating officer.

When you examine the actual polling questions and results, POS made some interesting choices in the language for question four:

Which one of the following statements regarding the U.S. involvement in Iraq do you MOST agree with...

17 percent: The US should immediately withdraw its troops from Iraq.

32 percent: Whether Iraq is stable or not, the US should set and hold to set a strict timetable for withdrawing troops

23 percent: While I don't agree that the US should be in the war, our troops should stay there and do whatever it takes to restore order until the Iraqis can govern and provide security to their country.

27 percent: The Iraq War is the front line in the battle against terrorism and our troops should stay there and do whatever it takes to restore order until the Iraqis can govern and provide security to their country.

Even in a poll crafted by a GOP firm, only 27 percent believe Iraq's the "front line in the battle against terrorism," which is the rationale most consistently offered by President Bush over the 1,436 days of this war. Amomg the slim majority who oppose withdrawal, 23 percent wish the war hadn't been started in the first place.

Politics · Iraq · Polling · 2007/02/21 · 17 COMMENTS · Link

Comments

Ah, the sweet, sweet irony in such a flawed poll being done by a company called "POS".

#1 · Dan Dickinson · 2007/02/21

Hey, so you ARE interested in picking apart polls. Good on ya. Can't wait to see this tradition continued.

All but a couple of the polls on Iraq touted by liberals I've seen in the last three years were weighted toward liberal respondents without adjustment, and the questions in any poll are rightly suspect. I guess polling data isn't worth using in an argument for fear of exactly this kind of deboning. But it's equally clear that if you want to allege public support for your position, it's there if you know how to ask for it. So what exactly do people think, anyway? We'll see in '08, I suppose.

Oh, wait. DIEBOLD!

#2 · Uncle Mikey · 2007/02/21

As you so efficiently demonstrate, the 'results' of this poll amount to little more than a press release by the Republican Party--and a distorted one, at that. But of course. It's a tradition with the GOP.

#3 · Vince Williams · 2007/02/21

Hey, so you ARE interested in picking apart polls. Good on ya. Can't wait to see this tradition continued.

I'm more interested in the media angle, because the partisan nature of POS is so obvious. I've yet to find a right-wing news site or blog that tells its audience the company's a GOP pollster.

#4 · Rogers Cadenhead · 2007/02/21

Thanks for the info. I didn't know this poll was on Drudge. Good to see that there is still hope in America. Imagine asking an American if they "want" US to win the war and they are unable to answer! Amazing time we live in.

#5 · Scott Harrison · 2007/02/21

What have you pointed out that shows something does not "add up"?? So it's a right-leaning pollster; so Zogby leans left but we give him credit. This conspiracy hysteria or whatever it is you're trying to insinuate makes no sense whatsoever. To break it down further, try this:

"27%: The Iraq War is the front line in the battle against terrorism and our troops should stay there and do whatever it takes to restore order until the Iraqis can govern and provide security to their country."

It's clearly a compound statement so some who did not mark this choice may not have done so beleiving that Iraq is the front line but that we should not stay there and do whatever it takes to restore order...

Think about it. Further, pollsters attempt to gather generalized sentiments so they can't possibly capture every scenario.

#6 · PointPlease · 2007/02/21

27 percent: The Iraq War is the front line in the battle against terrorism and our troops should stay there and do whatever it takes to restore order until the Iraqis can govern and provide security to their country.

27 percent. Wow, that's Bush's approval rating. Interesting poll.

#7 · Scott Harrison · 2007/02/22

I'm more interested in the media angle, because the partisan nature of POS is so obvious. I've yet to find a right-wing news site or blog that tells its audience the company's a GOP pollster.

You're right about that, but I never see anyone cop to suspect polling practices/organizations. Hell, the networks and major newspapers all ran that "Douglas Feith lied about Iraq" story like it was gospel truth (a bad phrase in this context, I know) when it was just Carl Levin's opinion, and no one ran a retraction but the Washington Post, which originally ran the story.

Translation: people are liars. Not me, of course, but people.

#8 · Uncle Mikey · 2007/02/22

that tells its audience the company's a GOP pollster

Except they're not even pollsters. They're are plenty of reputable GOP polling outfits. This is a PR shop - the same one that created the Harry & Louise ads - that happens to use a poll-like substance to generate ad copy.

#9 · Sven · 2007/02/22

The nature of polling is that questions are always skewed in some manner which is why polling, is an art not a science. These questions seem fair enough and seem to reflect the split in our nation pretty well. The implication that Democrats do not embrace the same strategy makes one chuckle. Poll watching will kill a candidate. Ask Gore and kerry....Hillary, watch yourself.....

#10 · fcc · 2007/02/22

How about listing all of the polling organizations with liberal leanings. Oh, not enough room.

Reminds me of an old saying -
Figures Lie and Liars Figure

#11 · Bob L · 2007/02/22

Point 1: All polsters and Statistitians know an answer can be predicted by the wording of a question.

Point 2: All polsters are not immune to Bias and strategically
create their desired answers; hence they skew All Polls and the results obtained therefrom.

Point 3: no poll is INTELECTUALLY Honest; conclusion therefore is only
inferior minds value poll results.

Proof: "If a recognized poll advised most Americans support the current President,would the Liberal intellegencia hail that poll's
objectiveness?" "Would the same intellegencia admit they differ from
the majority?"

Answer: Never on both counts! So what good are polls and the results they profess. Pollsters Lie, professing their data is honest. Remember Confuscious say:" Man's written words are based on writers need for recognition, and his spoken word is based on his loneliness."

#12 · M J Klavins · 2007/02/22

Point 1: All polsters and Statistitians know an answer can be predicted by the wording of a question.

Point 2: All polsters are not immune to Bias and strategically
create their desired answers; hence they skew All Polls and the results obtained therefrom.

Point 3: no poll is INTELECTUALLY Honest; conclusion therefore is only
inferior minds value poll results.

#13 · M J Klavins · 2007/02/22

"Remember Confuscious say:" Man's written words are based on writers need for recognition, and his spoken word is based on his loneliness."

And that's why you posted the same comment twice?

#14 · B Kelley · 2007/02/22

So Confucius was a pretty lonely guy, huh?

#15 · Uncle Mikey · 2007/02/24

Polling is a "glimpse of one moment in time" -- and can be very misleading.

The only poll that counts is the election results. I've always said this and absolutely believe it. Americans are not so inclined to believe the media. The internet has afforded them the opportunity to look at the facts themselves and judge based on information from all sides.

I think it's a very healthy end result........

#16 · LZK · 2007/02/25

Hollywood Takes a Role in 2008 Presidential Election
Hollywood's top stars such as George Clooney, Jennifer Aniston, and Barbra Streisand attended a Hollywood fundraiser in February, but the guest star of the evening was Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
The event brought in a little over $1million for the 45-year-old presidential candidate. The fundraiser was arranged by three of the entertainment industry's biggest names - DreamWorks studio founders Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen .
Presidential candidates have long been attracted to California by the prospect of high dollars and the opportunity to bask in Hollywood glamour. Now there is also another lure for 2008 candidates--the prospect the state may move up its primary, creating a treasure trove of delegates to be won in the early run-up to the nominations.
The star-studded, $1.3 million fundraiser for the Illinois senator was just the latest California stopover from top-tier presidential contenders from both parties. Arizona Sen. John McCain has scheduled a visit to the area with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has already visited California. New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and husband Bill Clinton have a long standing relationship with the movie and entertainment industry.
Lawmakers and Schwarzenegger are poised to move the state's primary to Feb. 5 from June, so the heat is on for presidential candidates to lure big money and big name supporters from the state.
Obama spoke to residents at an area park and promised to take on issues from health care to education, while changing America's course in Iraq. He has introduced legislation that would set a deadline of March 2008 to remove all U.S. combat brigades from the country.
Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961, in Hawaii to Barack Obama, Sr. and Ann Dunham. He graduated from Columbia University in 1983, and moved to Chicago in 1985 to work for a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment. In 1991 he graduated from Harvard Law School, where he was the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review. He started his law career in civil rights practice.

Uncle Rocky
www.ACheapSeat.com

#17 · Uncle Rocky · 2007/02/27