Seemingly following the example set by his fellow CNN hosts, Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon, host Anderson Cooper ended Thursday’s edition of AC360 by venting his nonsensical anger at a fundraising e-mail sent by the Trump campaign. The e-mail, meant to drive engagement with Trump supporters, led people to the “Official State of the Union Approval Poll” and the answers for the parody poll have had CNN liberals in a tailspin.
“Now sure, the e-mail starts off insulting ‘Cryin’ Chuck and the Democrats’ and labels the President’s speech ‘historic’ twice, but then it asks the President's followers to take the, quote, ‘Official State of the Union Approval Poll’,” Cooper mocked as if he was being insightful. “And it's absolutely official because as you can see right there it says, ‘official’. Eat your heart out Gallup.”
Cooper continued his condescending rant against the “highly-official, undeniably scientific poll” by chiding the first question. “How would you rate President Trump's state of the union address? Historic, great, good, or other.”
“Historic, great, good seems kind of like a missed opportunity for an all of the above option but, look, I'm no pollster,” he sneered.
Anyone who has somehow been added to an e-mail list for a political campaign can attest to the fact that they often get messages praising the candidate, asking them to answer polls/sign petitions/send donations, and to forward it to their friends. Many of these kinds of e-mails are meant to get supporters to share their e-mail addresses and other information so they can be added to other e-mail lists and such.
The fact that in order turn in a ballot for the “Official State of the Union Approval Poll” a user needed to include such information, showed that it was designed to boost enthusiasm and to obtain e-mail addresses.
But Cooper, someone who has been around politics for decades, kept acting as though the poll was meant to collect actual results for release. “Gee, I wonder what's going to happen to this data from the super-scientific survey,” he wondered. “Who would want the results of a skewed survey, sent to the President’s supporters, with a loaded question where the answers -- choices are all synonyms for ‘you, sir, are awesome’?”
Cooper also lashed out at some of the other questions as well:
Now there were other chances for Trump supporters to make their feelings known in the survey. Here are a few other questions, quote: “Do you believe President Trump delivered a visionary speech of always choosing American greatness?” And, “do you believe Democrats only say they don't want a wall to harass our great President?”
“See these are perfect examples of why it's very important how poll questions are worded,” he mocked as he proceeded to bash White House advisor Kellyanne Conway for caring about how real poll questions were worded.
Cooper wrapped up his show with his own bitter poll question for CNN’s liberal viewership: “Was the President’s survey: embarrassing, utterly pointless, a shameless exercise in narcissism, or other.” This is CNN.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360
February 7, 2019
8:57:48 p.m. EasternANDERSON COOPER: Time now for The Ridiculist. And I think we can all agree that one trait of an effective and self-aware leader is to want honest feedback. So what a sign it was that the Trump campaign sent an e-mail to their supporters after the State of the Union speech asking for just that.
Now sure, the e-mail starts off insulting “Cryin’ Chuck and the Democrats” and labels the President’s speech “historic” twice, but then it asks the President's followers to take the, quote, “Official State of the Union Approval Poll”. And it's absolutely official because as you can see right there it says, “official”. Eat your heart out Gallup.
So from this highly-official, undeniably scientific poll sent by team Trump to Trump supporters, I now present the first question. Quote, “how would you rate President Trump's state of the union address, historic, great, good, or other.”
Historic, great, good seems kind of like a missed opportunity for an all of the above option but, look, I'm no pollster. Gee, I wonder what's going to happen to this data from the super-scientific survey?
Now, it's true that some people did think the State of the Union was historic and great or good. In fact, a CNN poll conducted by SSRS found that 76 percent of viewers had either a very positive or somewhat positive reaction. Of course, there are also some people who thought it was other. That's not the point. The point is, what's the purpose of gathering this kind of information in this way?
Who would want the results of a skewed survey, sent to the President’s supporters, with a loaded question where the answers -- choices are all synonyms for “you sir, are awesome”? Coincidentally, the President tweeted this a short time ago: “So nice how well my State of the Union speech was received. Thank you to all.”
Now there were other chances for Trump supporters to make their feelings known in the survey. Here are a few other questions, quote: “Do you believe President Trump delivered a visionary speech of always choosing American greatness?” And, “do you believe Democrats only say they don't want a wall to harass our great President?”
See these are perfect examples of why it's very important how poll questions are worded. And as we know, Kellyanne Conway is very concerned about this kind of thing.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Kellyanne, there's a new poll out showing that 71 percent of America --
KELLYANNE CONWAY: Do you have the poll question? I just want to see the questions.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The question was, “is the wall worth the government shutdown.
CONWAY: And so, why would that be the question? Why is that a good question?
COOPER: With that, we invite you to take the Official Ridiculist Approval Poll. Was the President’s survey: embarrassing, utterly pointless, a shameless exercise in narcissism, or other. And that, all of the above, is what we call a very official and a very good question on the Ridiculist.
