It looks like the Republican-owned mainstream media are up to their same old tricks, bending themselves into pretzels to manipulate statistics to bolster the right-wing Republican propaganda machine.
This time, it's on the subject of income inequality. And this time (as is often the case), the perpetrator is the Associated Press.
Our local newspaper (the Syracuse, NY Post-Standard) ran an Associated Press article Friday (March 20, 2015), with the following headline: “Poll: Public not that worried about inequality.”
The article went on to cite a survey (a survey for which it did not provide a link for specifics). Then, the article went on to explain that “only” 46 percent of the American public thought that the government should do something to reduce income inequality. Then, later, it said 37 percent of the public thinks the government shouldn't concern itself with the problem. Of course, in the normal, real world, 46 percent is a much larger number than 37 percent, but...who are we average, everyday citizens to quibble when a major national news media outlet decides to deliberately, with malice aforethought skew the numbers?
Only in the bizzarro, twisted, demented, perverse and truth-averse world of the Associated Press and its fellow Republican sycophantic “news media” can a clear plurality of support for the government taking action mean that people don't want them to do so.
Here's the article as it appeared in the Post-Standard: (click to page A-8)
http://syracusepoststandard.ny.newsmemory.com/...
The Tampa Bay Times' headline is even more Orwellian, claiming that “Interest in Rising Income Inequality Stays Low” even as the article goes on to say that 46 percent think the government should do something about it and only 37 percent think it shouldn't.
http://www.tampabay.com/...
Do you think someone should let the Associated Press, the Post-Standard and the Tampa Bay Times know that 46 percent is bigger than 37 percent?
Of course, these are the same type of mainstream media that are constantly claiming that Obamacare is unpopular, even though the difference between those who support it and those who don't is usually just a couple of percentage points, basically, usually within the margin of error. And yet, to these same bizzarro-world spinmeisters, a 43-41 percent disapproval and approval of Obamacare is alleged “proof” that it's unpopular, while a 46-37 percent spread on whether the government should or shouldn't do something about income inequality clearly shows the public is not in support (even though a clear nine percent plurality...nearly half of all Americans...is in support).
And, while the poll itself does, technically, show a slight drop in support for government involvement in reducing income inequality over the past couple of years, the real story is that that type of fluctuation is pretty typical when compared to recessionary and non-recessionary years in the past and that actual, overall support for government intervention has remained relatively steady over the years. In fact, six percent more people support government intervention in the most recent poll than in 1994, which was one of the lowest points.
http://www.apnorc.org/...
Another key observation: While this poll does tend to show a point or two fluctuation from year to year, it's usually only that, a point or two. By polling standards, a point or two is literally within any poll's margin of error. So that means that when mainstream media outlets trumpet the alleged “fact” that support for government intervention has “dropped,” what they are failing to take into account (either deliberately or through sheer laziness) is the fact that a one or two point differential from year to year doesn't definitively show any kind of a drop at all, when looked at in historical context. Of course, looking at things in context, comparing the survey in historical terms and taking into account economic downturns and upturns, is probably a little too much to ask of these journalistic “geniuses” who are all too willing to prostitute themselves to the wealthy elites.
The actual organization that conducted the poll (the National Organization for Research at the University of Chicago (NORC)) is more neutral about the way it presents its results, stating that “there is no clear majority” when it comes to government's role in reducing income inequality, which is at least accurate, compared to the way the pro-Republican news media portray it.
http://www.apnorc.org/...
Almost every day lately, something crops up in the news to make me feel like we're getting closer and closer to an Orwellian world rather than farther away. This is just another example.
Apparently, the mainstream media just assume that the American public is too dumb to see through its blatantly pro-capitalist bias.