ABC News, Washington Post Withheld Results Of Poll Favorable To Obama

[babylonsister]

http://mediamatters.org/items/200807170011

ABC News/Wash. Post withheld results of poll favorable to Obama

Summary: ABC News and The Washington Post issued staggered releases of the results of their latest poll, withholding from their first release results favorable to Sen. Barack Obama, including the finding that 50 percent of registered voters would vote for Obama for president versus 42 percent for Sen. John McCain. The next day, the Post ran an article headlined "Poll Finds Voters Split on Candidates' Iraq-Pullout Positions," which did not mention Obama's 8-point lead over McCain. Later that day, ABC News and the Post issued a second release with additional poll results that stated: "Obama continues to hold most of the advantages in the presidential race."

In disclosing the results of their poll, conducted July 10-13, ABC News and The Washington Post issued staggered releases, withholding from their first release on July 14 poll results favorable to Sen. Barack Obama, including the finding that 50 percent of registered voters would vote for Obama "f the 2008 presidential election were being held today" versus 42 percent who favored Sen. John McCain. A partial release of the results, "embargoed for release after 6:30 p.m. Monday, July 14, 2008," was titled "McCain Stays Competitive on Iraq; It's About More than Withdrawal" and disclosed the results of only 10 questions relating to foreign policy. Among the results, the release noted: 72 percent of respondents think McCain would be "a good commander-in-chief," compared with 48 percent for Obama; "50 percent of Americans prefer Obama's plan to withdraw most U.S. forces within 16 months of taking office," compared with 49 percent who side with McCain's position; 47 percent of respondents said they trust McCain more on Iraq, while 45 percent prefer Obama; and 51 percent of Americans "now say the U.S. campaign against the Taliban and al Qaeda there has been unsuccessful." Following the July 14 release, ABCNews.com posted an analysis of only the foreign policy poll results under the headline "McCain Tops Obama in Commander-in-Chief Test; Stays Competitive on Iraq." Similarly, Time magazine senior political analyst Mark Halperin linked to the ABCNews.com analysis using the headline: "Poll: McCain Wins More Confidence as Commander in Chief." In a July 15 article headlined "Poll Finds Voters Split on Candidates' Iraq-Pullout Positions," the Post reported only the poll results disclosed in the first release. The article did not mention Obama's 8-point lead over McCain among registered voters on who they would vote for "f the 2008 presidential election were being held today."

On July 15, the day after the initial release, ABC News and the Post issued a second release disclosing the results of 18 questions "embargoed for release after 5 p.m. Tuesday, July 15, 2008." Included in the release was the result that overall, Obama leads McCain by 8 percentage points among registered voters. Additionally, the release stated: "Obama continues to hold most of the advantages in the presidential race, in enthusiasm, levels of partisanship, personal qualities and trust on top domestic issues, notably No. 1, the economy; and he's improved in the past month among swing voter groups." The release noted that Obama leads McCain by 19 percentage points on the question of which candidate respondents "trust more to handle the economy."

[book_worm]

1. ABC has been anti-Obama since the primaries.

[Faygo Kid]

5. Washington Post? Of course. The nation's official Iraq War cheerleader.

Remember the article a few months ago about the "rumors" that Barack is a Muslim?

On the front page?

Look at their columnists. My God, check out Krauthammer today. Insane drivel; raw hatred; zero analysis.

[Canuckistanian]

12. And what about 'The Path to 9/11'? They've been anti-Democrat since then

And it probably goes back further than that.

[newmajority]

19. At least since Peter Jennings died.

If the guy hadn't smoked for decades, I'd seriously question whether he hadn't got the CIA needle. Like his former boss (and ex CIA director) William Casey did.

[Clark2008]

40. I know people who've smoked for decades that aren't dead.

And I've known people who haven't smoked who are dead.

The CIA needle may not need to be factored out, yet.

[davidwparker]

44. Isn't that the one who couldn't speak just before testifying about Iran/Contra

and then died shortly thereafter? Some people just die at the wrong times.

[newmajority]

48. Yep, that's the one.

Developed a sudden brain tumor. His family owned Capital Cities Communications, which was the parent company of ABC before Disney bought it.

[anonymous171]

31. Yep. Remember "Stolen Honor"?

[newmajority]

50. "Stolen Honor" was actually a product of the Sinclair Broadcasting Company

They own a lot of TV stations in some areas of the country. Some of them happen to be ABC affiliates. But ABC themselves weren't to blame for that one.

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

14. I have to Agree. ABC is definitely not a friend.

[Captain Hilts]

20. The WashPost has been VERY pro-Obama through the primaries. nt

[babylonsister]

26. I could probably dispute that, but does that excuse this behavior?

Should they get a pass for withholding and skewing poll results? I think not.

[Captain Hilts]

29. Not at all.

The ed page endorsed Hillary Clinton, but the opinion columnists supported Obama, using derisive terms like "Billary" and "Clintonistas."

[me b zola]

41. ABC is the new fox news

I don't say that just because they favor McCain/repubs over Obama/Dems, but it is the manner in which they do so.

[Tigress DEM]

42. They should call it "slapstick" news - what a joke!

Stephanie Miller does "standup news" at least she's honest about going for a punch line.

[madaboutharry]

2. What the hell is the matter with these people?

Something has gone terribly wrong when major press organizations see it as their place to manipulate the news. This makes me sick. It makes me think that our country is lost.

[jazzjunkysue]

23. The same companies who own the war profit and energy profit machines own the media.

This is why deregulation is the real culprit. The owners of the news should not be allowed to own the industries, too.

And, wouldn't it be nice if those owners weren't multi-national corporations?

In my mind, all news should be on public TV. I know there is more corporate interest there than in the past, but it's still not a profit making business.

[vaberella]

3. Damn you MSM....Damn you to hell!!! :(

They are too much. Why, can I get a valid reason why they want Obama out? Is it they fear being taxed the way they are going to be?! Ugh!!

[NYC_SKP]

13. It's more than taxes that they fear.

Media consolidation is on Obama's list of things to address.

The Big Ten, or Big Eight now I think, love the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and fear any break up of their monopolies.

This Nation article is from 2002, but lays out who owned what at that time. Things are worse now.

http://www.thenation.com/special/bigten.html

Oh, and he's a proponent of Net Neutrality, of course!

:hi:

[vaberella]

18. Ahhh..no wonder. Makes sense. I'd be worried.

[Just-plain-Kathy]

28. Yesterday my local newspaper reported that Obama is having money problems.

...and that he's having a hard time keeping up with McCain.

We all know that's not true.

[Muttocracy]

4. :(

[grantcart]

6. a good target for DU activist corp

[speedoo]

7. K&R. Thanks for posting this. nt

[Franks Wild Years]

8. Absolute fucking disgrace.

I don't know whether it's yet another way to ensure that the very large malleable, uninformed contingent of the American public view Obama damply & are not swayed into being enthusiastic about him or whether it's to not allow people to see any poll in which he has a large lead in order to make fraud much easier in November.

Either way, it's a design to help the Republicans. And it fucking stinks. I'll tell you what though, for every piece of evidence like this which emerges it leads me further along the line of thought that the polls showing Obama with a 1 or 2 point lead are sham polls concocted to underplay his real margin. The sad thing is that I'm not sure if it'll matter regardless of what his lead is among voters. I'm not sure a 10 point lead in real terms makes him any more likely to be 'elected' with the current people at the helm.

[Fly by night]

9. No one should watch ABC for anything. Worst network in history ...

... whose executives have mouse-shit for brains.

No wonder they support McLame.

[Whisp]

22. turn off the tv except for throwing things at their lies.

the military industrial complex media will always dissapoint.
there is NO FREE PRESS.

sheeeeeshshshshshs!

[Speck Tater]

10. Do they realize they are HELPING Obama?

Enthusiastic Obama supports who aren't watching closely are go to say to themselves and each other "If the race is really that close, we'd better work harder!".

[paparush]

11. Total fucking mind control. Its sickening.

[grantcart]

15. If they were attorneys or doctors they would be sued for malpractice

[babylonsister]

25. I wish someone WOULD sue. Withholding info that could be

crucial to the presidential election? How is anyone supposed to make an informed decision if the info isn't being shared?

[City Lights]

16. I despise the corporate media.

Hmmm, I wonder if there's a "Dummies" series book on overthrowing the media.

[Youphemism]

17. Halperin was a pretty good stealth cheerleader for McCain until...

...the end of last week, when he was the only person in the world to call it a winning week for McCain.

Up until then, he'd been inserting a partisan comment here and there, posing as a "political analyst."

But calling that disastrous week in McCain's favor stripped away any "analyst" costume, and left him standing naked and more obvious than the one miliarty moron who doesn't take one step backward when the sarge asks for a volunteer.

[progressoid]

21. That's the liberal media for ya.

[Hope And Change]

24. K & R!

[edhopper]

27. What?

There were no questions about lapel pins, capital gains taxes or being Muslim?

[monkeybiz]

30. WAPO has a Republican bias. It's eviden

I've been closely reading the Washington Post and I notice bias towards Mccain in its editorial and opinion pages. Now they try to be dishonest aboout a poll that shows Obama on top by a large margin. I'm not surprised.

[mvd]

39. I'm not surprised

Seems to be a trend. I just cancelled the Philly Inquirer because of its politics. They have Ferris, Santorum, and Smerconish - while all we get is a very centrist editorial policy. The editorials have always been centrist, but had some good journalistic pieces. Now it seems they are getting more weak-kneed.

Polman (even if he is a Democrat) is not supposed to show bias. And Trudy Rubin (supposedly one of us) will never approve of a withdrawal plan for Iraq. And she just does world views anyway.

[BeyondGeography]

32. So Obama has a 19-point lead on the economy, which is THE issue of the 2008 election

But why let that little fact get in the way of a good establishmentarian lie?

[Frank Booth]

33. ABC has quietly become worse than Fox News for Democrats, especially Obama.

At least Fox rarely tries to hide their biases. ABC is still allowed to operate under the presumption that it's an objective news source. The death of Peter Jennings and the elevation of Jake Tapper probably explain some of the lurch to the right, though it seemed to start before then. In any case, because of its reach, I now consider ABC news to be the most harmful news source in this country.

Any Democrat who owns Disney stock is only helping the right-wing corporate media. If every Democrat who owns the stock would sell, Disney would start hurting. And of course, clicking on abc.com, espn.com or making trips to Disneyland should be avoided as well.

[ooglymoogly]

34. One more nail in the coffin of these pug water carriers....nt kr

[Triana]

35. I H8 the M$M. HATE them. n/t

[Cha]

36. Fucking mediawhores ala

goebbels. That's why Obama's running a campaign designed to go straight through the media.

[mod mom]

37. Moyers is correct-4th estate=5th column

[judasdisney]

38. 1996 Telecommunications Act. Thanks, B.C.

[Politicalboi]

43. I still think

That the polls are wrong and Obama has a bigger lead than they say. Even on MSNBC's scroll, they have Obama up by 8 points one day and 4 points the next. McCain couldn't even get a rally in his own state. They had to move it to a private party at someone's house. Does that sound like someone who has a 4 point loss to Obama who gets over 70,000 in Oregon?

[Enthusiast]

45. In 2004 we were amazed,

We were amazed that our little Southeast Ohio community was wall to wall Kerry signs. I have never in my life seen anything like it. One day we were in Lancaster Ohio and we were shocked to see some Bush signs. We had grown so accustomed to seeing Kerry signs. What happened? Something underhanded, that is for sure. I have little hope for Obama. The corporations stand to lose to much fun and profit. They will pull something and this is only the start. They are lying, plain and simple.

[AnnieBW]

46. So much for the "Liberal Media"

I'd expect that shit from the Slimes, but not the Post.

[wolverinez]

47. That is just sad

Really helps my confidence of news sources.

[BlooInBloo]

49. One wonders how they'll handle the election results in November.