Media Bias Alert: The New York Times Stacks Deck in Health Care Poll To Skew Left

Why am I not surprised?

A few days ago, I reported recently here at SHS, about a Pew Poll that showed fewer than 50% wanting a wholesale overhaul of our health care system, far less than in 1993. A few days ago, imagine my surprise when the New York Times came out with a completely different series of findings, indicating far more support for radical change.  From the NYT story:

Across a number of questions, the poll detected substantial support for a greater government role in health care, a position generally identified with the Democratic Party. When asked which party was more likely to improve health care, only 18 percent of respondents said the Republicans, compared with 57 percent who picked the Democrats. Even one of four Republicans said the Democrats would do better.

The national telephone survey, which was conducted from June 12 to 16, found that 72 percent of those questioned supported a government-administered insurance plan — something like Medicare for those under 65 — that would compete for customers with private insurers. Twenty percent said they were opposed.

This was so dichotomous to Pew results, I decided to look closer.  Surprise! The NYT poll stacked the deck by over polling Obama voters versus those who went for McCain by nearly two-to-one (48% Obama versus 25% McCain), with 19% not having voted at all. Funny how the story in chief somehow failed to make mention of that fundamental imbalance, which if it did, would allow us to reach some important conclusions about the validity of the poll.

For comparison, here is the Pew Poll breakdown that still skews left but far more closely follows current registration and the recent election election results:

You say the New York Times is biased? Wesley, what bias?