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Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Media Creating a False Narrative

I was listening to CBS News in my car this morning and was somewhat surprised to hear a report in the business news of a recent Quinnipiac poll that showed (according to the CBS reporter) that two-thirds of Americans thought that there personal financial situation was the same or worse compared to two years ago.  Given the strength of the American economy, particularly since President Trump took office 19 months ago, it seemed counter-intuitive that there would be such low numbers for personal economic situations.  I decided to check it out.

Here's the actual answer:  the poll asked this question: "Compared to 2 years ago, do you think your financial situation has gotten better, gotten worse, or stayed about the same?" 

The results were these:

Better           36%
The same     45%
Worse          17%
Don't Know 1%

81% thought they were either better off or the same as two years ago.  Sixty two percent thought the same or worse.  So, it's all in how you state the results.  (Sure 62 is not the 67% needed for two thirds, so CBS did exaggerate the numbers too.)  More important though is the fact that by a margin of 21 (that's 36 to 17) more Americans thought they were better off than worse off.  CBS didn't mention that.

That was bad enough for the CBS report but I looked still further.  Quinnipiac also asked the same people what they thought of the nation's economy.  Fully 45% thought it is getting better while only 21% said getting worse.  When Trump took office, it was only 37% who said it was getting better.  In other words, not only do many more people say their own financial situation is better rather than worse now than two years ago, but there's been a big increase in people who think the national economy is getting better now too.

Despite the positive findings in the poll, CBS reported it as a negative.  They are trying to create the impression that there is trouble in the economy, something which is a false narrative.  I expect that this effort will continue right through election day.  Once again, we are seeing the media/Democrat alliance at work.

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