ABC on Monday and Tuesday ignored its own poll's finding that 37 percent of Americans now blame Barack Obama's policies for hurting the economy. No mention was made of the results on Monday's World News or Nightline.
On Tuesday, Good Morning America news anchor Josh Elliott vaguely explained, "And a new ABC News poll finds Americans are increasingly pessimistic about the future. 68 percent who suffered a layoff in their household say jobs remain very hard to find in their area."
However, no one on the program highlighted respondents' negative feelings towards the President. The 37 percent number is a six point jump since October.
In comparison, the Washington Post [1], who partnered with ABC for the poll, devoted 724 words to the story and put it on A3.
Post writers Ylan Q. Mui and Jon Cohen explained:
The poll showed support for Obama's economic agenda has begun to slip in the past nine months. The percentage of people who said Obama has made the economy worse jumped six points since October to 37 percent. That creates a bigger opening for Republican attacks as the presidential campaign begins to heat up.
More bad numbers for the President included only 31 percent of liberal Democrats saying they "strongly" support Obama, down from 53 percent.
The poll was from a July 17 survey. But, the data from it was just released on Monday. Considering that GMA on Tuesday had time for a segment on a grizzly bear attack and a shark attack, they probably could have found time for this story.
A transcript of the July 26 news brief, which aired at 8:03am EDT, follows:
JOSH ELLIOTT: And a new ABC News poll finds Americans are increasingly pessimistic about the future. 68 percent who suffered a layoff in their household say jobs remain very hard to find in their area.
— Scott Whitlock is the senior news analyst for the Media Research Center. Click here [2] to follow him on Twitter.