How incredibly damaging have all the Trump scandals and "legal woes" been to his political appeal? The latest ABC-Washington Post poll found that "if the 2024 race is again between Biden and Trump, 48 percent of registered voters say they would support Trump while 46 percent would support Biden, a difference within the poll's margin of error."
As MRC's Brent Baker pointed out on Sunday, ABC buried this particular finding on This Week, and The Washington Post put it in the penultimate paragraph of a 35-paragraph story in the print edition.
Aside from @GStephanopoulos 44 minutes into #ThisWeek: “Our poll shows him [Trump] defeating Joe Biden in 2024.” @WashingtonPost put that ABC News/Washington Post poll finding, 48% Trump to 46% Biden, in 34th paragraph of 35 paragraph story in Sunday's print paper. pic.twitter.com/ATfZ6i1qnH
— Brent Baker 🇺🇦 (@BrentHBaker) September 25, 2022
Stephanopoulos reported several other poll findings at the top of the show. For its part, the Post buried the story on this poll on page A-14. There was no plug on page one above the masthead -- but they did tout that one anonymous NFL owner wants Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder to sell the team.
The headline on page A-14 seemed designed to be dull: "Poll finds sharp divides as midterms near." It signaled to readers "go ahead and turn the page to A-16." It did not suggest this was a bad poll for Biden and the Democrats.
The pull quote in bold italics also deemed designed to placate the paper's Democrat-dominated readership:
Earlier predictions of big GOP gains have been clouded by the Supreme Court's decision in June to overturn Roe v. Wade, spurring on abortion rights supporters, especially younger women.
Post writers Dan Balz, Emily Guskin, and Scott Clement cleared their throats about highly motivated voters on both sides before getting to the bad news in the sixth paragraph:
President Biden continues to be a drag on Democratic candidates this fall. The Post-ABC survey pegs his approval rating at 39 percent, with 53 percent disapproving, including 41 percent strongly disapproving. The share of Americans saying Biden has accomplished “a great deal” or “a good amount” has grown from 35 percent last November to 40 percent today, although a 57 percent majority still says he has not accomplished much or anything.
Independents favored Republicans by five points -- 47 percent to 42. The Post explained the Democrats led by seven points in the final pre-midterm poll before the 2018 midterms. But they found the silver lining that Democrats are only down five when independent voters in this poll disapproved of Biden by 60 percent to 31 percent.
All in all, you can see why liberal media groups bury their polls they don't like.
