How would you interpret this poll? BBC America just completely spun it

[GCP]

Jan 13-15 BBc News/ Harris Poll:
Report card for Obama

A 20%
B 29%
C 20%
D 12%
F 20%

The way I read it - he gets 69% more or less favorable, and 32% unfavorable

Katti Kay the BBC America newsreader read it very differently, as quote - ' 20% give him an A, but an equal number give him a C, and the same percentage failed him. That's by any measure, a decidedly mixed verdict'.

HUH?

I must be just a brainwashed lib, I guess.

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Perhaps it depends on how you view a C grade

If a kid says they're averaging a C grade in school, do you think they're doing OK? We don't use those grades in England, but my impression was that a C was regarded as not very good in the US.

[GCP]

4. I believe it's viewed as average

As in Bush's 'Gentleman's C'

[harkadog]

12. Most people don't want an "average" President

So it is unfavorable in how he is viewed.

[Unvanguard]

2. Yes, you're right, it's spin. The median is at the very top of the Cs, which is hardly terrible. n/t

[dipsydoodle]

3. No bias intended

but I'd read it the way you say she did. It's the way anything similar would be read in the UK.

[Unvanguard]

7. The problem with her logic is not her view of C.

The problem is that, while A, C, and F all have the same percentage, B has more than twice that of D. The balance she suggests on both sides simply isn't there; the 20% of Fs shows polarization, not a broad antipathy.

[NRaleighLiberal]

5. Katti Kay is well named - I really just can't stand her. More like "catty asshole"

[Hello_Kitty]

6. 49% give him an A or B. That's pretty good. eom

[GCP]

8. Exactly

And if Bush can graduate from Yale with a C, it still counts as positive IMHO.

[jenmito]

9. She just IGNORED the fact that 29% gave him a B while only 12% gave him a D.

:eyes:

[demwing]

10. 49% approval - 32% Disapprove - 20% undecided

I'd love those numbers going into an election. Undecideds break 50/50, or close, putting Obama's approval rating well above the 55% mark.

[NYC_SKP]

11. If we throw out "A"s and "F"s as outliers, we get the 29-20-12 set for "B", "C", and "D"...

which is probably more representative of reality, and which I would call generally favorable.

Or, one could say "20% Average, 32% Below Average, and 49% Above Average", which is also generally favorable.

Katti Kay is full of shit.