#BSFAIL

CBS has released several CBS/New York Times polls that suggest the failure of the intense propaganda campaign waged by the White House and the mainstream media. Below John discusses the poll that shows Obama’s approval rating sinking to a new low. CBS reports the results of the poll here. A sidebar to the poll shows that a majority of Americans believes gas prices are something a president can do a lot about — by a margin of 54-36. The poll on the president’s power to affect gas prices is also reported here.

Despite the intense propaganda barrage to which we have been subjected over the past several weeks, CBS reports that most Americans believe there should be an exception to the mandate requiring employers who may have a moral or religious objection to cover birth control for their employees — by a margin of 57-36. A majority believes that even nonreligious employers should have the right to opt out — by a margin of 51-40. CBS reports the results of the poll here. To the extent that the White House and its media friends have succeeded in confusing the issue, Americans support the White House position.

One more CBS/New York Times poll. A majority of Americans say they would favor using U.S. military action against Iran to prevent the country from acquiring nuclear weapons — by a margin of 51-36. The poll is reported here.

Per the approval rating story, the polls were conducted among 1009 adults nationwide, 878 of whom were registered voters. I asked CBS/interactive editor Brian Montopoli why the polls were conducted among adults as opposed to registered or likely voters. Brian referred me to CBS’s Sarah Dutton, who kindly responded:

We measure views on current issues and the president’s approval rating in non-election years as well, so it’s necessary to look at those questions among a wider group than voters. The context for a president’s approval rating or views on something like Iran or the economy isn’t always election-related.

Our data on presidential approval ratings, wars, recessions, etc have historically been reported among all adults. That’s true for other polls as well, not just CBS News polls.

We do report other election-related questions, such as specific measures of candidates (favorability for example), among voters.

I hope this answers your question.

I appreciate the response, and I pass it on for what it is worth. I think that a poll limited to registered or likely voters would show slightly worse results (worse from the perspective of the Democrat Media Axis).

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