Fox Poll Numbers on Health Care Sneakily Biased

If Fox News’ latest poll were trustworthy, it would be bad news for Democrats; it turned up just 33% of the public supporting health care reform efforts, to 55% opposed, a far worse number than other polls. The natural liberal response: “It’s a Fox poll, so of course it’s biased,” writes polling guru Nate Silver. Not so simple, says Silver: In the same poll, Obama's approval ratings, at 58%, are higher than other polls, and a look at the wording shows the questions weren't biased.

So what’s the trick? Well, Fox asks the approval rating question first. But before touching on health care in question No. 27, the poll asks a slew of ridiculously biased questions, like, “Do you think President Obama apologizes too much to the rest of the world?” or “Do you think the Obama administration is proposing more government spending than American taxpayers can afford?” After these thinly-veiled GOP talking points, respondents are primed to decry health care reform. (More poll numbers stories.)