NY TImes Poll From Yesterday

More interesting items from that new New York Times poll:
"Nearly 40 percent of Americans say they do not have an opinion about Senator John Kerry, the likely Democratic presidential nominee. Among those who do have an opinion, Mr. Kerry is disliked more than he is liked (35 percent!). More than 50 percent of respondents said that Mr. Kerry says what he thinks voters want to hear...

The 35 percent have a negative opinion of Kerry factoid is buried in the next to last paragraph, with 36 percent having no opinion. If my math is correct, this leaves a mere 29 percent of the respondents having a positive opinion of Kerry.

EVEN BAD POLLS DESERVE BETTER HEADLINES [06/28 10:58 PM]
But even shaky polls deserve accurate headlines. From the AP we learn that in the May CBS/New York Times poll, Kerry led Bush by 8 percentage points in a two-way matchup, and by 6 points in a three-way matchup. The headline was "Kerry Surges Ahead og Bush". The newest one shows Kerry had 45 percent support and Bush by 44 percent in the poll. In a three-way matchup, Kerry and Bush were still running even while independent Ralph Nader is at 5 percent.

So one could conclude the big story is Bush pulling even, right? An eight point lead has evaporated into a one-point lead. Big news, right?

The New York Times headline? "Bush's Rating Falls to Its Lowest Point." The head-to-head numbers are in the 11th paragraph.