Politico’s Fake Tea Party-Slamming South Carolina Poll

It almost seems that on a daily basis the onetime political news website Politico is edging toward a Daily Kos-like experience, and on Jan 14 we see yet another step in Politico’s journey toward left-wing extremes with a fake poll that claims that no one in South Carolina likes the Tea Party movement. Did I mention it was a “Facebook poll”?

The headline ways it all, really: Facebook/POLITICO poll: South Carolina users cool to tea party. If the fact that this “poll” is just some posting on a Facebook page doesn’t make you laugh at its validity, the hilarity continues as Politico goes on to treat this silliness as real news. “Almost two-thirds of adult Facebook users in South Carolina say they aren’t fans of the tea party, according to a Facebook poll conducted today with POLITICO,” the “news” website begins. Come on. Does anyone imagine that Politico reached “almost two-thirds” of the Facebook uses in South Carolina? Does anyone even imagine that Politico reached even a representative number of Facebook users in South Carolina? Was there any scientific method at all to this or was it just some posting that a handful of South Carolinians saw on Facebook? Bet you can guess.

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But let’s not let science get in the way of a good liberal meme, OK? Politico has decided that everyone in South Carolina hates the Tea Party Movement and that is that, you see?

Sixty-two percent of those surveyed said they are “not at all supportive” of the tea party, compared with 20 percent who were “somewhat supportive” and 18 percent who were “very supportive.” Of those surveyed, women were slightly less supportive of the tea party. Just 35 percent were either “somewhat” or “very” supportive of the movement, compared with 42 percent among men.

Politico does admit that this poll has some, er, limitations.

The results only represent the sentiment of South Carolina users on Facebook, not registered voters or likely GOP primary voters that tend to be more reliable barometers of primary elections. The Facebook poll, for instance, doesn’t exclude Democrats or independents.

How many Facebook respondents were Democrats? How many were white, black, or Asian? How many were actual voters? How many really lived in South Carolina? How do we quantify these results? Who needs scientific controls on a poll, anyway? At least Politico notes that their little Facebook poll that I am sure all the denizens of the local progressive movement were all about gaming was “at odds” with a recent study that showed that 85% of registered South Carolina voters had favorable views of the Tea Party. But forget that other poll. It had scientific controls so it isn’t worth nuthin. All we need to know is Politico’s 12 Facebook users that it found at a local coffee house in Charleston really hate the Tea Party and that’s news, ya know? Oh, and this “news” isn’t at all timed to negatively affect the GOP primary in South Carolina. Don’t you worry about that.