CNN really is becoming its own worst enemy. In a recent tweet, networks from a voting poll told an exhausted America that what it really wanted was to stay as far away from normal life as possible until a COVID-19 vaccine was developed.
Twitter users questioned the voting statistics and whether or not the numbers were actually accurate, since everyone knows a vaccine for coronavirus, by most estimates, won’t be available until next year. Or may never come at all. Turns out CNN had ‘misunderstood’ the polls they were using or just wanted to push a sustained closure agenda. It turns out that 68% of people do not feel this way actually and want to return to normal life. Nowhere close to the original figures.
CNN cited the Gallup poll as a source but Gallup did not poll its respondents based on the question of whether or not a vaccine is needed before returning to normal life, which was CNN’s exact wording of the question in the headline.
The actual question Gallup presented in its polls is “How important are each of the following factors to you when thinking about your willingness to return to your normal activities?” One of the options available was “the availability of a vaccine to prevent COVID-19” which was ‘important’ to 68% of respondents, which is quite different from “mandatory’ as cited in the CNN article.
When media platforms dug into these polls in the CNN article they noticed that the two Gallup surveys cited don’t link up. The survey questions are much less ambiguous regarding normal life than CNN’s claim. One of the questions asks “how soon would you return to normal day-to-day activities if there were no government restrictions” giving four options. One of them, and the most popular one, is “after the number of new cases declines significantly” getting 40% of the respondents’ votes. The least popular answer, ranking in at 9%, is actually “after a coronavirus vaccine is developed.” 9% is much different than the 68% CNN suggests.
The problem is that many left news platforms will use the original language of the research but will bury it so deep in its own biased wording to create their own narrative it’s impossible to decipher. CNN eventually updated the headline to read, “68% of Americans say an available vaccine is very important before returning to normal life, new survey finds.” This is exactly how fake news spreads and people start screaming down the road that the world is ending.
Media platforms have more frequently been using vague poll questions to misleadingly suggest support for lockdowns. It is dishonest and insulting, especially for the small businesses struggling right now. When polls ask relevant questions, it’s excluded from reporting. When polls ask vague questions, it concludes that people support the government in forcing businesses to close. It’s a traditional leftist hack.
