Whoops: Fox graphics department goes rogue on Palin poll

By Stephen C. Webster
Monday, November 23rd, 2009 -- 9:53 pm
Share on Facebook Stumble This!

palinfreakout Whoops: Fox graphics department goes rogue on Palin pollPie charts are great and all, but like anything in life, there's a time and a place.

Unfortunately for one Fox affiliate, this was neither.

During a Friday broadcast, MyFox Chicago ran a graphic that apparently showed Sarah Palin enjoying a surge in support among Republicans in her quest to run against President Obama in 2012.

According to a recent Fox news poll, her backing for the GOP nomination has swelled to 70 percent among party voters, anchor Byron Harlan said.

According to the poll, the other top candidates for a 2012 bid on the Republican ticket are Mike Huckabee, with 63 percent and Mitt Romney with 60 percent.

Story continues below...

Wait, that's 193 percent. Isn't the purpose of a pie chart to show how 100 percent of something would be divided?

foxpalinpollgoesrogue Whoops: Fox graphics department goes rogue on Palin poll

The numbers came from Republican respondents to a recent Fox News opinion poll [PDF link], as pointed out by Think Progress.

The document produced by the poll does not present Republican favorability ratings with a pie chart. Instead, respondents were simply asked if they held a favorable view of certain public figures.

Atop the list of names sampled, Oprah Winfrey claimed the highest rating at 61 percent. Among Republicans, her favorability is just 46 percent.

Palin's overall placement on the list was second with a rating of 47 percent.

This video is from MyFox Chicago, broadcast Nov. 22, 2009.

Share this article:
  • Print
  • email
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Story comments are below...

  • This is crazy!
  • Peter
    this isnt Fox News, this is a local affiliate that isnt owned by Fox News nor News Corp. Dont get me wrong, I hate Fox News, but these guys arent even remotely connected. Plus, Fox Chicago has always been a liberal news station. This article is misleading.
  • Savantster
    .
    not remotely connected? I don't think you know what affiliated means.
    .
  • peter13
    simply put, the LOCAL editor at Fox Chicago shouldnt have used a pie chart.
  • peter13
    yes, i do. my sister is an executive producer for a local ABC news affilliate. this was a dumb mistake by an editor at the LOCAL level, it has nothing to do with Fox News or News Corp. Fox Chicago is owned by LIN TV Corporation, not News Corp.

    Fox Chicago is actually a liberal news organization, Walter Jacobson, one of their former anchors, was one of the only local news anchors in the country to speak out against the Bush Administration.

    read this:

    In the broadcasting industry (especially in North America), a network affiliate (or affiliated station) is a local broadcaster which carries some or all of the programme line-up of a television or radio network, but is owned by a company other than the owner of the network. This distinguishes such a station from an owned-and-operated station (O&O), which is owned by its parent network.

    While network-owned stations will normally carry the full programming schedule of the originating network, an affiliate is independently-owned and typically under no obligation to do so. Affiliated stations often buy supplementary programming from another source, such as a syndicator or another television network which does not have coverage in the station's broadcast area, in addition to the programming they carry from their primary network affiliation.
  • pakaal
    Gotta feel sorry for the dude (whoever he is, I don't watch the Conservative Channel) having to stand in front of that pie chart and act like everything's OK.
  • Savantster
    .
    you seem to think he understood it was wrong.
    .
  • pakaal
    Yeah, fair enough, he did quote the percentages, so clearly if he had half a brain he'd have realized it shouldn't have been a pie chart.
  • GunTotinLiberal
    Regressives and right wingers will gladly tell you math has a well know liberal bias. After all, math was clearly biased against John McCain in last years election.
  • SouthernYankee
    Thank god. Now all we have to worry about with the fuzzy math and the republican party of Palin is 2012.
  • richaust
    When confronted with a math problem asking "What is 2+2?", a Fox news reporter will ask "What do you want it to be?"
  • Savantster
    .
    they only ask if they like you, if they don't, they will say you're wrong no matter what you say.
    .
  • jimbeaux
    Is we Learnin' ?
  • Schmice
    Fuzzy math.
  • gr0o
    There's no math in the Bible! Don't cloud the issue with facts!
  • SouthernYankee
    Awe..we forget the bible was written by a republican. They keep tell a Jesus is a republican.
  • 2+2=5 with rightwingers, too.
  • dennycrane
    No problem,evidently Diebold makes their "pie" charts. Coincides with their voting machines in alaska that showed more tallied votes than voters. Plus, who the hell watches FAUX NEWS that can add or think. Belching and farting is about their limit.
  • SouthernYankee
    LOL. LOL, LOL. THEY SURE ARE A SORRY BUNCH.
  • missskeptic
    That is one damned big pie!
  • DownriverDem
    How they must love all their brain challenged viewers!!!!!!

    I hope she gets the nomination, since most voters have already rejected her.
  • imwc
    an inadvertant mistake no doubt...
  • imwc
    and they wonder why comedians have a field day with their daily stupidity...
  • SouthernYankee
    Yes sir, you can't make this stuff up.
  • cire60
    Didn't he graduate from either Liberty University or Bob Jones University?
  • hotrodharryJane
    The brain has 4 lobes, Unfortunately FOX hires candidates for employment who have ONLY 1 lobe at the maximum. Thus you see why FOX & its anchor in Chicago believe 193% equals to 100%. The same reasoning can be used to why since Ronnie Reagan, Republicans added to the Federal Govt Debt & Budget Deficit. Clinton addressed the Budget Deficit part & had put us on a path to reduce significantly or eliminate the Federal Govt Debt, but unfortunately GW Bush & his friends created this new mathematics called GOP Maths which is 193 % = 100 % & the Federal Govt Debt has exploded along with the Budget Deficit. The acid test is 2010; if GOP can hold onto the seats in US Congress they already have that is okay for them, else if they increase, then we know the country's low information voter has bitten the GOP sound bite of 193 % = 100 %. Like they say in Britain, GOD save the queen, we here in USA have to say GOD save USA.
  • SouthernYankee
    Funny thing, Murdock has threaten reporters on the different shows that their jobs are on the line with using videos of teabaggers at different rallies than saying it was a Palin book signing. Now he'll have to start threatening the math people. Hopefully we are finally seeing the down fall of Republican Fox Network. But then again we are talking about people who idolize Beck and Palin.
  • overdoneputaforkinit
    Truth was too liberal for conservatives, the Bible was too liberal, and now ARITHMETIC is too liberal for conservatives. Conservatives will decide how math works. It is only those liberal mathematicians who said things must add up to 100 percent. Conservatives won't be bound by what liberal mathematicians say!
  • jimthebeam
    Next on the list ... music! It's only a theory.
  • pakaal
    I think Toby Keith and Ted Nugent are proof enough there's Conservative-friendly music being made.

    But hey, Keith and Nugent did a USO tour, I'll give 'em credit for that.
  • Brady
    Come on, people. We're being overly generous in assuming that Fox viewers grasp the concept of percentages.

    All they see is Palin in red, and they know (supposedly) that 70 > 63 > 60. That's that matters to these lunatics.
  • Savantster
    .
    I was thinking the opposite, and the colors told people what to think.. green is go, blue is ok too, red is NO.. The power elite knows Palin is "bad", so they need to reprogram their base now (after having trained them to like her in the first place).

    Of the 3, Romney is the least freakish and got green...
    .
  • SouthernYankee
    Gosh Grady, Details, details, don't let the facts get in their way please. Remember these are Palin supporters who can't tell you why they think she will make a good president except she will uphold the constitution. As if President Obama isn't.
  • S in PA
    Don't call him "retarded" - comparing that completely brainless olf with mentally challenged people is an insult to mentally challenged people.
  • margatefam
    Gee, so refreshing that you can speak for Mentally challenged people. Why not just leave the offensive word retard out of the argument?
  • JakeW83
    What about that retarded robot they got there? He can barely read the teleprompter.
  • voreason3
    What's apparent is that Fox is using IQ tests in its hiring practices.

    Also apparent is that a decision was made only to hire people whose IQ is less than 75.
  • Michael Valentine
    Must be like a Boston Cream Pie, three layers that add up to 193% delicious.
  • Phil E. Drifter
    LOL dude, I love Boston cream pies...

    This story makes me want donuts!
  • SouthernYankee
    I love Boston Cream Pie to. Hmmmmmmmm good
blog comments powered by Disqus