Fun with graphics

Posted at 2:16 PM on March 31, 2006 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)

We got a chuckle here today while browing Michele Bachmann's campaign Web site.

This is a reference to a Tinklenberg poll in head-to-head matchups.

Holy cow! Have you ever seen a difference not even outside the margin of error look so insurmountable?

Since we were on methodology awhile ago, the methodology of ConnectUSA, the firm that did this particular poll, is particularly suspect. As near as I can figure, the poll isn't even scientific. It's random. But you get what you pay for, which is why I never trust candidate-purchased polling.

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Comments (4)

The obvious deceit in this graphic is that the Bachmann campaign isn't starting the graph at zero. Look closely and you see the numbers are

Bachmann: 32
Tinklenberg: 29
Krinkie: 28

The not-so-obvious deceit is that it's not at all clear that this is an apples-to-apples comparison. Bachmann's site says: "Poll for the Tinklenberg Campaign: by Cooper & Secrest Associates, Inc." So is this the result of Tinklenberg's internal polling, which the Bachmann campaign somehow managed to obtain?

OR . . . has Tinklenberg published an internal poll showing him at 29% support, and Bachmann has commissioned her own SEPARATE poll showing her with 32% support?

Good for a chuckle, indeed.

Posted by David Bailey | March 31, 2006 3:46 PM

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This is Bachmann's M.O.--lie, cheat, deceive, whatever it takes to win. The bogus figures she used in her campaign literature recently to artificially deflate Phil Krinkie's Taxpayers League rating is further evidence:

http://tinyurl.com/gl8u9

And when the Taxpayers League calls one of their own "at best ... sloppy with the facts," you know something's really out of whack.

Posted by Karl | April 2, 2006 8:29 PM

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You know, I don't much care; I live in the Second District, and if I DID live in the Sixth I'd support Krinkie.

But some of Bachmann's detractors have reached a level of hysteria and delusion that astounds me.

Might even make a good story.

Posted by carl | April 3, 2006 9:43 AM

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Very good site, congratulations!

Posted by acidophilus | April 13, 2006 8:54 PM

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