Posted by Peter, a resident of the Southgate neighborhood, on Jul 18, 2007 at 5:41 pm

If you google zogby, you get Web Link

Posted by Zogby Question, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jul 18, 2007 at 6:05 pm

Thanks for the answer, Peter. But I had already gone there and several other sites looking for the latest poll so I could look at the source for the following story put out today on Reuters.

Web Link

The problem with it is sentences like

"An even bigger majority, 83 percent, say the Democratic-controlled Congress is doing only a fair or poor job -- the worst mark for Congress in a Zogby poll."

What the heck? Fair job is very different from poor job. Is it 82% say poor job, and 1% say fair, or the other way around?

Or "In the national survey of 1,012 likely voters, taken July 12 through July 14, about 66 percent said Bush had done only a fair or poor job as president, with 34 percent ranking his performance as excellent or good". Again, 65% Fair and 1% poor, or the other way around?

I find reporting like this to be an absolute shame on the profession of journalism. Especially when there is no way to find the original data to look at ourselves ( at least, not that I can find).

So, if anyone knows how to find THIS questionnaire with the specific responses, I would like to know.

By the way,...what the heck kinds of questions give the following answers? And why does anyone think they know why Americans are answering the way they are?

"The poll showed only 26 percent of Americans thought the United States was on the right track and 64 percent thought it was on the wrong track."

If someone were to ask me, I would be one of the 64% who would say we are on the wrong track..but Zogby and most Dems and a few Repubs think I mean that we need to move more into the Dem position, when in fact I am unhappy with our move to the left in Congress ( thus far failing, but I am very unhappy with the tone of Congress, like the stunt last night). So, why aren't questions followed up with "If you believe we are heading in the wrong direction, which direction should be move back into? Repub or Dem?" Or something like that.

Anyway, I just am irritated.

Posted by Peter, a resident of the Southgate neighborhood, on Jul 18, 2007 at 9:40 pm

Zogby Question,here's a link to Zogby's release on the poll, which provides a bit more detail. You've probably seen it already. It contains a link about Zogby's methodology, but that link doesn't disclose the questions. That omission makes it hard to understand what the results.

Web Link

Posted by Zogby Question, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jul 19, 2007 at 9:57 am

Thanks Peter! Actually, I didn't find that link yesterday, and it at least gives a bit more info. I can see that Zogby at least started to try to get a bit more info about the "right direction, wrong direction" question, but I sure would like to see all the info.

I see this link is under "news" on that site, which I either missed in my initial perusal or it hadn't been put up yet.

Well, if we hold our breath, maybe we will get the actual questions and specific results one day. Any takers on a bet?

thanks