In mid-December, we noticed ABC, CBS, and NBC had no interest in citing Gallup polls that made the Democrats look like they were on the wrong side of the public. But on Tuesday morning’s Today, NBC substitute co-host Savannah Guthrie gushed to Chris Matthews in the first half-hour of the show that the latest Gallup numbers show Obama ticking up a bit.
“For the first time I think since July, the latest Gallup tracking poll has his approval higher than his disapproval. He's no longer upside-down on that number,” Guthrie reported. “Is this a reflection of things getting better in the economy, or people not liking the Republicans and coming back to President Obama?” But did they? By 1 pm Tuesday, the latest tracking poll had Obama underwater again: 46 percent approve to 48 percent disapprove.
On screen, viewers saw that Obama’s approval-disapproval rating was 44 percent approve/48 percent disapprove on December 20-22 and then 47/45 on December 21-23. In other words, the polls shared two days of numbers in their rolling average.
Matthews told Guthrie "I'm an economic determinist" and absolutely thought Obama's (temporary) improved numbers matched an uptick on the stock market, and a decline in the unemployment rate.
