The Washington Post features the results of their latest poll, and uses a headline suggesting bad news for the administration and the war in Iraq:
If that were the case, it would be no surprise. After all, the poll is heavily skewed toward Democrats. Consult the demographic information at the end of the poll: Generally speaking, do you usually think of yourself as: Democrat, 33 percent; Republican, 24 percent NET LEANED PARTY Democrat, 50 percent; Republican, 38 percent If you skew a poll far in favor of Democrats, your answers will be unreliable. That said, if you read a little further, you discover these results:
- In July ‘nearly 6 in 10’ said they wanted to decrease the number of troops there, but now they favor the president’s approach over that of Congress by 52%-43%.
- Almost all of those who would like congressional Democrats to do more to oppose the Iraq war disapprove of how the president has handled it, but about a quarter want U.S. troops to remain in Iraq until civil order is restored. More than a third see Bush’s plan to withdraw the “surge” troops by next summer as about right or even too fast.
- Barely a third of liberal Democrats approve of the job Congress is doing; in April, 59 percent approved. Among independents, 24 percent approve, equaling last year’s pre-election low mark for the GOP-controlled Congress.
- Sixteen percent of adults say that Congress has accomplished ‘a great deal’ or ‘a good amount,’ while 82 percent say ‘not much’ or ‘nothing.’
One might have expected a poll that relied so heavily on Democrats to produce no good news for Republicans. That’s not the case here, though.
