Josh Marshall thinks the latest Gallup polling numbers on Social Security don’t bode well for President Bush. He writes, “Down the line the numbers are not good for the president or the supporters of phasing out Social Security. Not terrible, mind you, but in the negative on almost every count.” Pointing to a Washington Post poll analysis, Marshall thinks the most revealing observation is that “support drops dramatically when supporters are pressed with even the most elementary and indisputable problems with the president’s approach.”
For more on polls, we turn to Steve Soto at the Left Coaster who is baffled by — you guessed it — Gallup’s oversampling of Republicans in its most recent poll, which showed President Bush with an improved approval rating of 57 percent. Soto grumbles, “The poll trumpeted far and wide yesterday by CNN, USAT and the right wing blogosphere was based on a sample constructed by Gallup that contained 37 percent Republicans, 35 percent Independents, and only 28 percent Democrats.”
“At what point in our history over the last several decades has the GOP ever had a 9 percent edge over the Democrats?” Soto asks. “And knowing that, why would they put out a poll showing a 57 percent approval rating when they must know that it is based on a bogus sample?”
While Soto thinks he’s on to something, there really isn’t anything new here. As we learned during the election, Gallup doesn’t weight its poll results to account for party affiliation.
Captain Ed picks up on a Washington Times story (subscription required) reporting that Bill Clinton’s new presidential library in Little Rock, Arkansas isn’t drawing the predicted rush of visitors. One visitor, however, has shown his face with great frequency — Bill Clinton.
Captain Ed, reaching back for some 90’s-style vitriol, writes, “it says something about the ego-building and stroking that Bill Clinton requires that he feels he has to spend 25 percent of his nights sleeping at his presidential library. … Clinton’s attachment to his monument seems more than a little self-obsessive and somewhat pathetic.”
Sure, Clinton’s never been shy about molding his legacy. But then, if we had a presidential library, we’d probably enjoy hanging out and having our ego stroked, too.
Wizbang’s Kevin Aylward has the goods on another star-studded story. Apparently Marcia Cross of “Desperate Housewives” is not gay, despite a number of reports that the actress was on the verge of coming out of the closet. Aylward links to Datalounge, which he identifies as the source of the myth. Aylward, making CJR Daily proud, explains, “This is a classic example of a story that bubbled up via the Internet, and also a case where the expected additional reporting of the paid press never quite materialized. The gossip columnists just ran the story as fact without checking the source; presumably because other gossip columnists had already run the story.”
And in other news of the famous, rumor has it that former “Saturday Night Live” Weekend Update correspondent Al Franken is set to announce he will run for a U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota. Krempasky at Redstate.org couldn’t be happier. Apparently, he’s been involved in an intensive letter writing campaign urging the Dems to make such a move:
Dear Santa/Easter Bunny/Toothfairy,
Please send the Democrats some kind of joker to run for the United States Senate in Minnesota.
Best,
Mike
–Thomas Lang
Thomas Lang was a writer at CJR Daily.