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October 03, 2007
To: Editor Star Tribune (opinion{at}startribune.com)
Honest Reporting of Polls
When your poll shows Norm Coleman with 52%, Al Franken with 27% and Al Ciresi with 20%, you headline it as "Wild and Wide Open." But when you find Hillary Clinton has 47%, Barack Obama 22% and John Edwards 16%, it is titled "Clinton Has Strong Lead." What is the difference (besides your own prejudices)? And do you expect that your readers will go no further than the headlines?
Ross S. Olson
The Star tribune did not publish but expalined the discrepency as follows:
"The numbers in the Senate race reflect the individual approval rating of each candidate, the numbers in the presidential race reflect the level of support head to head to head."
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