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And the award for the most ridiculous poll sampling goes to .... (take a guess before looking)
Hotair ^ | 05/11/2011 | Ed Morrissey

Posted on 05/11/2011 6:50:00 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

Move over, CBS. Hang up the kid-leather gloves, WaPo/ABC. There’s a new sample-skewing sheriff in town, and it’s the Associated Press. In a new definition of “outlier,” the AP reported that its latest poll from GfK Roper shows Barack Obama with a 60% approval rating in a survey of 1001 adults, with even his approval on the economy shooting past the 50% mark:

President Barack Obama’s approval rating has hit its highest point in two years — 60 percent — and more than half of Americans now say he deserves to be re-elected, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll taken after U.S. forces killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

In worrisome signs for Republicans, the president’s standing improved not just on foreign policy but also on the economy, and independent Americans — a key voting bloc in the November 2012 presidential election — caused the overall uptick in support by sliding back to Obama after fleeing for much of the past two years.

Comfortable majorities of the public now call Obama a strong leader who will keep America safe. Nearly three-fourths — 73 percent — also now say they are confident that Obama can effectively handle terrorist threats. And he improved his standing on Afghanistan, Iraq and the United States’ relationships with other countries.

Oddly — or perhaps not — the AP report doesn’t include a link back to the survey’s raw data. In order to find it, one has to go to GfK’s site for its AP polls. The partisan breakdown in the sample is found about halfway through the PDF, and it explains a great deal about how Obama managed to get such a high boost in this poll while others showed shallow bumps that had already started to subside.

The Dem/Rep/Ind breakdown in this poll is 46/29/4, as AP assigned most of the leaners to the parties. That is a 17-point gap, more than twice what was seen in the 2008 actual popular vote that elected Obama. It only gets worse when independents are assigned properly. When taking out the leaners, the split becomes — I’m not kidding — 35/18/27. Oh, and another 20% “don’t know.” That’s significantly worse than the March poll, in which the proper D/R/I was 29/20/34, and far beyond their post-midterm sample of 31/28/26. It’s pretty easy to get Obama to 60% when Republicans are undersampled by almost half.

Frankly, this sample is so bad that no real insights can be gleaned from it. I think it’s time to break out the Billy Madison verdict:

Tags: , ,


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: associatedpress; poll; sampling
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1 posted on 05/11/2011 6:50:05 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Polls are conducted by zip code and area code. Easy to get any desired results to fit any agenda.


2 posted on 05/11/2011 6:54:42 AM PDT by Carley (We will not tire. We will not falter. We will not fail. W, 9/20/01)
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To: SeekAndFind

I expect the poll will serve the purpose of demoralizing those who don’t think they can take 4 more years of what we’re getting now. The “60%” figure was prominently featured on the website for the Atlanta newspapers this morning, and it certainly left a sour taste in my mouth.


3 posted on 05/11/2011 6:56:01 AM PDT by madprof98 ("moritur et ridet" - salvianus)
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To: SeekAndFind

Does anyone know how to get an email to an AP writer? I have tried to send an email to an AP writer more than once, but was never successful. AP is so powerful since so many “writers” in US newspapers use AP as their so-called source.


4 posted on 05/11/2011 6:56:25 AM PDT by Freee-dame
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To: SeekAndFind
Yeah, the Pubbie's should be shaking in their boots!!

When gas hits $5.00 a gallon, and the unemployment rate goes up to 10%, who KNOWS how high Obambi's ratings will skyrocket!!

The only thing 'high' in this polling sample were the pollsters, I would guess..

5 posted on 05/11/2011 6:57:08 AM PDT by Fedupwithit ("The welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants" -Albert Camus)
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To: Fedupwithit
The only thing 'high' in this polling sample were the pollsters, I would guess..

AND the poll-ees.....................

6 posted on 05/11/2011 6:58:51 AM PDT by Red Badger (Jesus said there is no marriage in Heaven. That's why they call it Heaven............)
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To: SeekAndFind

.......you had to know these figures were really skewed the minute they hit this morning.


7 posted on 05/11/2011 6:59:50 AM PDT by Recon Dad (Herman Cain is the man in 2012)
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To: madprof98

Yep. Pure propaganda. It’s all over Yahoo too. Meant to inspire libs, convince indies and depress repubs.

The media is our enemy.


8 posted on 05/11/2011 7:01:18 AM PDT by nhwingut (Palin '12... Accept No Other)
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To: SeekAndFind

Ap’s intent is to get this number into the RCP average to boost it up since it is almost right at the 50% mark and when the bounce fades from bin laden’s death he will, without outlier polls like this, sink rapidly back to where he was a couple of weeks ago.


9 posted on 05/11/2011 7:02:49 AM PDT by 101voodoo
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To: Fedupwithit

how about all the commie dems that who themselves $5 gas! That voted themselves big losses in home values! Higher food prices! Bwahahahahahhahaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


10 posted on 05/11/2011 7:04:52 AM PDT by biggredd1
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To: SeekAndFind

I expect push polling to be far worse this year.

I also expect divide and combine to be common.

break everyone up and then bundle the best obama image.

ie: 90 percent are either in favor of obama or undecided; but not saying what is “in favor”

They will also conceal via saying president not mr. obama.


11 posted on 05/11/2011 7:06:58 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: SeekAndFind
I usually start the day watching the ABC affiliate here in Houston for traffic and weather. Unfortunately, I have to listen to a few minutes of libtard news. They were giddy over the "latest poll" and did a hookup with Stephanopolis, who was practically wetting himself. They were pushing the poll so hard I knew it was bogus.

Baraq will probably get another bump out of this push poll.

12 posted on 05/11/2011 7:09:12 AM PDT by Sans-Culotte ( Pray for Obama- Psalm 109:8)
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To: longtermmemmory

I got polled ONCE by one of these outfits.
They asked your typical leading question and asked for my response, and I said “OH! This is a push-poll, isn’t it?”

[CLICK]

I’ve never been hung up on so fast in my life.


13 posted on 05/11/2011 7:11:55 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter knows whom he's working for)
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To: SeekAndFind

Thank you! I was looking for that info. The only thing I was able to find out was that this poll was conducted using cell phones and lan lines (which tend to leave out a lot of senior voters).


14 posted on 05/11/2011 7:12:12 AM PDT by marstegreg
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To: SeekAndFind

46D/29R/4I and 35D/18R/27I

You truly have to be sh*****g me.

I’m surprised AP even let this ridiculous sampling data to make it to the public realm. WaPo hides theirs on a regular basis.

This is ONE poll I don’t find particularly worrisome.


15 posted on 05/11/2011 7:14:22 AM PDT by ScottinVA (Imagine.... a world without islam.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Can pollsters be sued for malfeasance and fraud? This poll is, in fact, fraudulent to the core.


16 posted on 05/11/2011 7:14:29 AM PDT by WashingtonSource
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To: WashingtonSource

Well, it might help to let the enemedia know that they are at the top of “the list” for when JFK’s prediction comes true.

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable.”


17 posted on 05/11/2011 7:16:15 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter knows whom he's working for)
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To: SeekAndFind

The AP should name it the brown noser we poll commiecrats poll. It is a joke. Internal polling shows Obama is in very bad shape or else he would not be rollin into TX with his lies nor would he be wagging and milking OBL.


18 posted on 05/11/2011 7:27:50 AM PDT by Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid! (Allen West 2012 Make it happen!)
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To: ScottinVA

AP didn’t let it out- it had to be discovered though the actual pollster... I have tried to find polling data for other polls in the past, and when it is obviously questionable, the links are nt there, and some work must be done to discover it. When a news org like AP puts out a poll like this, they are NOT reporting the news, they are creating it.


19 posted on 05/11/2011 7:31:18 AM PDT by PghBaldy
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To: SeekAndFind
This poll is probably the biggest pile of poo that I have seen for a month.

How do these AP shills look at themselves in a mirror in the morning?

20 posted on 05/11/2011 7:40:15 AM PDT by Lysandru
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