Than Who Or When?

CNN sends me this.

CNN/ ORC POLL: DEMOCRATIC PARTY LESS POPULAR, BUT MORE AMERICANS STILL THINK COUNTRY BETTER OFF IN THEIR HANDS

To me the most likely meaning of this is "Democratic Party less popular than Republicans..." even though that would be weird given the rest of the sentence. So I figure that they mean the Democrats have become less popular than they were previously. I look at the past poll results, conveniently provided in the email, but, no, that's not the case either.

7. We'd like to get your overall opinion of some people in the news. As I read each name, please say if you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of these people -- or if you have never heard of them.

The Democratic Party

July 31-Aug. 3, 2009 52% 39% 1% 8%

April 23-26, 2009 51% 44% * 4%

Odd. It looks like since the last poll the Favorability/Unfavorability gap has actually increased from +7 to +13. Hmm... Okay, so I go to the story.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — A new national poll indicates that the Democratic party's becoming less popular with voters. But the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey, released Monday, suggests that the Republican party has not been able to capitalize on the Democrats' downturn.

Read: CNN's new poll

Fifty-two percent of people questioned say they have a favorable opinion of the Democratic party, down six points from February. Forty-one percent say they have a positive view of the Republican party, up just two points from February.

Ah! If you skip the intervening poll, you get to tell a pleasing story. Actual story: Dems were pretty damn popular in Februrary. That popularity declined by April, and has pretty much stayed flat sense. Not quite as pleasing of a story for your liberal media.