Zogby Spins Poll Results To Marginalize Ron Paul

Ignored Texas Congressman's domination of nearly every category to focus on single Giuliani success

Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet Tuesday, November 20, 2007

In their press release about the results of a new telephone poll, Zogby chose to marginalize Ron Paul by highlighting a demographic that was won by Rudy Giuliani, while largely ignoring the fact that the Texas Congressman completely dominated almost every other aspect of the poll.

Under the headline Giuliani Leads Among Republicans in Latest Blind Bio Survey, the Zogby press release reads, "Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, long the favorite in nationwide samples of likely Republican voters in the 2008 race for the party's presidential nomination, has the strongest resume of four top contenders, a new Zogby International survey shows."

"The telephone survey, known as a “blind bio” poll because likely voters are given details of the candidates’ resumes without their names attached, shows Giuliani wins 34% support, compared to 22% each for Thompson and Romney. Ron Paul, who has surged recently in polls and has a significant online following, came in last with 13% support, while 9% said they were undecided on the question."

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Only at the end of the article does the Zogby statement admit, "The blind bio question was also posed to a larger pool of 1,009 likely voters nationwide, including Democrats and independents, and Paul was the big winner among that universe of voters, winning 33%, compared to 19% for Giuliani, 15% for Romney, and 13% for Thompson."

Zogby's focus on Giuliani's success in one demographic is completely misleading and obfuscates the fact that Ron Paul won 90% of the categories in the survey. The fact that the headline of the press release trumpeted Giuliani, who distantly lags behind the Congressman in nearly all the key demographics, is a clear case of total spin.

Ron Paul dominated categories where the sample was both traditionally Republican and Democrat voters. Voters were asked which platform they favored - candidates A and D were Ron Paul and Rudy Giuliani respectively, but they were not directly named.

Amongst born again Christians, Ron Paul polled at 29.6 per cent, with Giuliani garnering just 22.5 per cent.

Amongst people with military in their families, 33.3 per cent supported Paul's platform, with 18 per cent supporting Giuliani.

Amongst NASCAR fans, Ron Paul polled at 32.5 per cent, beating Giuliani's 28 per cent.

Amongst women, 34.7 per cent favored Paul's platform over Giuliani's 17 per cent.

Amongst African-Americans, Paul trounced Giuliani, 40.5 per cent to Giuliani's 9.1 per cent.

Ron Paul's sweep in all these categories and many more was clearly the biggest story to come out of this poll, yet Zogby chose to highlight Giuliani's rare success.

There is no doubt that Giuliani beats Paul on name recognition alone, but the fact that the Congressman is surging ahead and gaining momentum, while capturing the sentiment of the nation, was the biggest story to come out of this poll - but Zogby chose to stifle it - proving once again that the self-fulfilling media obsession with relentlessly focusing on establishment approved candidates while marginalizing others only upholds the status quo and hurts the democratic process.