Yahoo News, AP, ever so sloppy with the facts

I don't know which editors, at Yahoo or the AP, wrote the headline - Obama re-election odds roughly 50-50 - but it's outrageously misleading, as is the lede sentence:

Entering 2012, President Barack Obama's re-election prospects are essentially a 50-50 proposition, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll.

 

You have to read down to the SIXTH paragrah to find the actual numbers:

For the first time, the poll found that a majority of adults, 52 percent, said Obama should be voted out of office while 43 percent said he deserves another term.

 

Just for the record, 52-43 is not "roughly" 50-50, nor is it "essentially" 50-50.  It's a nine-point spread! We all know damn well that if a poll showed Obama leading Generic Republican by nine percentage points, it wouldn't be cast as "roughly" or "essentially" tied.

And for those who make it all the way to the SEVENTEENTH paragraph:

.... Only 26 percent said the United States is headed in the right direction while 70 percent said the country was moving in the wrong direction....

 

Hmm. Hmm. Hmm.

Comments

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It's a nine-point spread! We all know damn well that if a poll showed Obama leading Generic Republican by nine percentage points, it wouldn't be cast as "roughly" or "essentially" tied.