A tale of two narratives on Trump’s favorability in the polls: Bias Breakdown

WELCOME TO BIAS BREAKDOWN.

I’M YOUR HOST – KARAH RUCKER.

PRESIDENT TRUMP HAS NOW BEEN IN OFFICE A LITTLE MORE THAN A MONTH.

HOW DO AMERICANS FEEL THE PRESIDENT IS DOING?

IT DEPENDS ON WHAT POLL YOU LOOK AT –

AND ON WHAT MEDIA OUTLET YOU LISTEN TO –

AS LEFT-LEANING NEWS OUTLETS ARE LARGELY HIGHLIGHTING NEGATIVE FINDINGS –

AND RIGHT-LEANING NEWS OUTLETS ARE LARGELY HIGHLIGHTING POSITIVE ONES.

WHAT POLLS SAY ABOUT PRESIDENT TRUMP’S APPROVAL RATING –

AND HOW THE MEDIA SELECTIVELY REPORTS ON IT –

THAT’S THE FOCUS OF TODAY’S BIAS BREAKDOWN.

FIRST – LET’S LOOK AT HOW RECENT POLLS ARE BEING COVERED –

COMPARING THE CONTRASTING NARRATIVES BETWEEN NEWS OUTLETS WITH A LEFT AND RIGHT POLITICAL BIAS.

THEN – WE’LL GET INTO SOME OF THE NUMBERS. 

FIRST – HOW HEADLINES READ FROM NEWS SOURCES RATED AS HAVING A LEFT POLITICAL BIAS.

THE WASHINGTON POST HEADLINE READS “MANY OF TRUMPS EARLY ACTIONS ARE UNPOPULAR: POST/IPSOS POLL FINDS”.

THE GUARDIAN WROTE “TRUMP BEGINS TERM WITH HISTORICALLY LOW APPROVAL RATING – POLLS SHOW”

AND MSNBC’S HEADLINE – “CAN’T STAND HIM: FROM POLICY TO PERSONNEL, TRUMP SCORES HISTORICALLY LOW POLL NUMBERS.”

THESE HEADLINES – HIGHLIGHTING NEGATIVE FINDINGS OF SEVERAL POLLS – COMPARED TO THESE HEADLINES FROM NEWS OUTLETS ON THE RIGHT – HIGHLIGHTING POSITIVE POLL FINDINGS –

FOX NEWS WROTE “TRUMP HAS HIGHER APPROVAL RATING THAN AT ANY POINT DURING HIS FIRST TERM.”

THE BLAZE WROTE – “Trump’s agenda continues to be popular, new polling shows”

AND THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER’S HEADLINE – “NATION – HAPPIEST ‘EVER’ – TRUMP IS ‘BEST’ PRESIDENT: RASMUSSEN”.

IT CAN BE CONFUSING TO READ HEADLINES LIKE THIS –

FROM LEFT AND RIGHT LEANING NEWS OUTLETS CONTRADICTING EACH OTHER.

THE SAME CONTRADICTION PLAYED OUT ON NETWORKS –

WITH LEFT-LEANING CNN AND MSNBC – REPORTING RECENT POLL NUMBERS ARE BAD FOR TRUMP.

 “It’s now been a month since President Trump’s return to t he white house. New polling shows he may be losing some of the voter enthusiasm he started off with a few weeks ago.”

“Negative negative negative negative. He is underwater in all of these polls. As i said earlier this week, he’s like the little mermaid. Under water.”

“What the data says sort of broadly, bottom line, is that the country kind of hates this guy. I shouldn’t say hate, maybe its can’t stand him.” 

COMPARE THIS RHETORIC TO WHAT YOU MAY HAVE HEARD LISTENING TO RIGHT-LEANING FOX NEWS…

“Meanwhile a majority of americans trust donald trump and elon musk to reign in federal government. Trump has been regularly polling in the mid-50’s rasmussen this week had him musk at 55 percent and all for good reason.

“Democrats have willful blindness here. Has hakeem jeffries not seen trump’s approval numbers?” 

“Doing the opposite of what biden did is now the most popular thing in the country. Voters by wide margins support deportations, doge, tariffs, closing the border and ending DEI. look at that.”

ARE YOU CONFUSED YET?

IN A PRIOR EPISODE I MENTIONED NEWS OUTLETS CAN PICK AND CHOOSE SO-CALLED EXPERTS TO INTERVIEW – TO FIT A POLITICAL NARRATIVE.

YOU CAN FIND AN EXPERT TO SAY ONE THING, AND ANOTHER TO SAY THE EXACT OPPOSITE.

THAT’S WHAT YOU’RE SEEING PLAY OUT HERE –

THESE OUTLETS ARE CHERRY PICKING THE POLLS THAT BETTER FIT THEIR LEFT OR RIGHT AGENDA.

WHAT THEIR REPORTING IS FACTUAL – THEY SHOW THE DATA TO PROVE IT. BUT THEY’RE SELECTIVE OVER WHAT STATS TO HIGHLIGHT.

FRANK LUNTZ – A POLLSTER AND STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS CONTRIBUTOR –

SPOKE TO CNN ABOUT HOW DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS ARE USING RECENT POLLS THAT FAVOR THEIR POLITICAL SIDE.

“Both sides, and there really are two sides of this, have something to cheer about. First, the level of support for trump has fallen, its been a significant measurement, but the agreement with the general direction of what he’s trying to do is positive. So democrats can point to the fact that the numbers that he dropped below 50 percent support is significant – republicans can point to he’s more popular now than he was at any time in his first term. Democrats can say the intensity of support has dropped. But republicans can say the support in general for cutting wasteful spending, bureaucracy, dealing with issues at the border is just as strong if not stronger.”

JUST AS DEMOCRAT AND REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS ARE USING POLL NUMBERS THAT SOUND BEST TO THEM –

THE LEFT AND RIGHT MEDIA HAVE DONE THE SAME.

HERE’S SOME OF THE POLLING DATA.

THE WASHINGTON POST – A LEFT LEANING OUTLET –

CITED THEIR WASHINGTON POST-IPSOS POLL – CONSISTING OF 2,600 U.S. ADULTS.

THE POST WROTE – On specific areas of responsibility, a majority disapprove of how he is handling the economy (53 percent vs. 45 percent approving), and a similar majority disapprove of how he is managing the federal government (54 percent). On immigration, opinions are closely divided, with 50 percent approving of how he’s handling the issue and 48 percent disapproving.

The president’s least popular action is his decision to pardon all those convicted of crimes in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. More than 8 in 10 oppose the pardons for those who were convicted of violent crimes.”

THE POST USED THESE STATISTICS TO CONCLUDE IN ITS HEADLINE – “MANY OF TRUMP’S EARLY ACTIONS ARE UNPOPULAR.”

THE BLAZE – A NEWS OUTLET ON THE RIGHT – CITED A HARVARD/HARRIS POLL – CONSISTING OF 2,443 REGISTERED VOTERS.

“The CAPS/Harris Poll found Trump’s approval rating is at 52%.On nearly every major issue, the poll found Americans have a favorable view of Trump’s agenda by wide margins, such as deportation of illegal immigrants who have committed crimes (81%), eliminating fraud and waste in government expenditures (76%), closing the border (76%), banning men from women’s sports (69%), and having only two gender options on government forms (68%).”

THE BLAZE USED THESE STATISTICS TO CONCLUDE IN ITS HEADLINE – Trump’s agenda continues to be popular.

THE POST AND THE BLAZE WERE BOTH ACCURATE IN THEIR REPORTS EVEN THOUGH THE CONCLUSIONS ARE IN CONTRAST OF ONE ANOTHER.

THE POST CITED A POLL THAT **DID FIND “TRUMP’S EARLY ACTIONS ARE UNPOPULAR.”

JUST AS THE BLAZE CITED A POLL THAT DID FIND “TRUMP’S AGENDA CONTINUES TO BE POPULAR.”

LET’S GIVE ANOTHER EXAMPLE.

THE GUARDIAN – A NEWS OUTLET ON THE LEFT–

CITED A GALLUP POLL – A SAMPLE SIZE OF 1,001 ADULTS

THE GUARDIAN WROTE – “Donald Trump is still historically unpopular compared with other new US presidents, a new poll showed. At 47%, President Donald Trump’s initial job approval rating for his second term is similar to the inaugural 45% reading during his first term, again placing him below all other elected presidents dating back to 1953.”

FOX NEWS REPORTED ON TRUMP’S APPROVAL RATING CITING A CNN POLL OF 1,200 U.S. ADULTS.

“President Donald Trump’s approval rating remains higher than at any point during his first term in office, according to a new poll from CNN.

The Thursday poll shows Trump at 47% approval rating with 52% disapproval.”

SO AGAIN – TWO THINGS CAN BE TRUE – CITING TWO DIFFERENT POLLS.

THE GALLUP POLL DID FIND TRUMP’S FAVORABILITY AT A HISTORIC LOW COMPARED TO OTHER PRESIDENTS AT THIS POINT IN HIS TERM.

AND THE CNN POLL DID FIND TRUMP IS RECORDING HIS HIGHEST FAVORABILITY RATINGS THAN EVER BEFORE.

POLLS IN GENERAL – AREN’T TRUSTED BY MANY PEOPLE ANYMORE –

ACCORDING TO THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTE – “IF YOU TOOK A PUBLIC OPINION POLL ABOUT POLLS, THE MAJORITY WOULD OFFER AN UNFAVORABLE VIEW.”

NOT ONLY DO PEOPLE NOT TRUST POLLS –

BUT MORE THAN TWO-THIRDS OF AMERICANS ALSO DON’T TRUST THE MEDIA IN “COVERING TRUMP’S SECOND TERM ACCURATELY AND FAIRLY.” –

BUT THAT STATISTIC – ALSO – COMES FROM A POLL.

IN SUMMARY –

YOU CAN SEE THE PATTERN LAID OUT HERE.

THE MEDIA CAN HAND PICK POLLS AND HAND PICK STATS FROM THOSE POLLS –

TO CREATE A HEADLINE AND REPORT – THAT IS **FACTUAL COMING FROM **REAL DATA.

BUT LEFT AND RIGHT LEANING NEWS ORGANIZATIONS CAN BE SELECTIVE IN WHAT POINTS THEY PULL –

OFTEN TIMES – PULLING FROM DIFFERENT DATA SETS – DEPENDING ON WHICH ONE FITS THEIR PREFERRED POLITICAL NARRATIVE.

AND THAT’S YOUR BIAS BREAKDOWN.

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THAT INTERACTION HELPS US OUT WITH THE ALGORITHM SO OTHERS ARE MORE LIKELY TO SEE THE CONTENT TOO.

WE’RE FAIRLY NEW IN THIS SPACE – THIS WAS OUR TENTH EPISODE WHICH IS PRETTY EXCITING!

SO I APPRECIATE YOUR SUPPORT IN OUR MISSION.

WE’RE TRYING TO TELL THE NEWS A LITTLE DIFFERENTLY HERE.

JUST AS NEWS OUTLETS SHOWCASED IN THIS STORY HAVE BEEN RATED BY WATCHDOG GROUPS AS HAVING A LEFT OR RIGHT POLITICAL LEAN IN THEIR COVERAGE –

THOSE SAME MEDIA WATCHDOGS HAVE RATED STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS AS BEING DOWN THE CENTER.

AND WE’LL KEEP WORKING HARD TO MAINTAIN THAT RATING.

AS ALWAYS – A BIG THANKS TO OUR VIDEO EDITOR IAN KENNEDY.

AND HEATH, ALLY AND MOE ON OUR GRAPHICS.

THANK **YOU FOR WATCHING!

AND I’LL SEE YOU NEXT TIME!