My first thought upon seeing the headline was, "well, DUH."

But on closer inspection, I figured I needed to perform a closer inspection. From a new poll published by The Nashville City Paper today:

Bush state numbers stronger than nation’s
By John Rodgers, jrodgers@nashvillecitypaper.com
May 11, 2006

President Bush is still very much in favor with Republican voters in the state, even though his approval rating is sagging nationwide, according to a City Paper/Supertalk 99.7 WTN poll.

About 86 percent [ed note: ????!!!?!?!!!] of those polled had a very favorable or somewhat favorable opinion of Bush while just 12 percent felt unfavorably toward the second-term commander-in-chief.

Keep in mind that the co-sponsor of this poll -- Supertalk 99.7FM -- is the home of Steve Gill, the most pre-eminent among the bloviating talk radio numbskulls who masterminded and suborned the cheap assaults on Legislative Plaza during the anti-tax panic of 2001. Read more on the flip...

But, as even a broken clock is right twice a day, we have this gem from Gill's own website, entitled BEWARE OF BOGUS POLLS:

A disturbing trend in recent elections is the intentional use of skewed polling by the media to promote their ideological bent rather than to report the news. A prime example of such “creative newsmaking” came to light just last week in a poll conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs for the Associated Press. The AP conducted the poll and then reported the results as “news,” emphasizing the “fact” that 56% of respondents to the poll thought the government should get a court warrant to eavesdrop on overseas calls and emails believed to be tied to terrorism. Meanwhile, 42% agreed with the White House that court approval of such interceptions is unnecessary. The AP also reported that the same poll showed a significant plurality in favor of Democrats taking control of Congress by a 49-36% margin.

But what the AP failed to report in its news story about the polling, which was repeated in news outlets throughout the country over the weekend, was the fact that 52% of the individuals who made up the poll identified themselves as Democrats, while only 40% identified themselves as Republicans. Not surprisingly, a poll of mostly Democrats revealed that most of them wanted Democrats rather than Republicans in control of Congress. However, none of the news reports by AP reported the heavily skewed partisan nature of the poll in reporting the results.

The AP-Ipsos poll is a textbook example of how a mainstream media outlet driven by ideological zeal, and an anti-Bush Administration agenda, can “create” the news and then “report” it. It is also a good reminder that voters should be extremely wary of almost all polling that will be reported during the coming election season.

(Long excerpt provided to preserve context. Emphasis mine.)

Words to live by, Mr. Gill. Words to live by. (Did you forget this rater sage bit of "caveat emptor" advice when you linked to this steaming loaf of a poll on your own site today?) But I give credit where credit's due. Poorly designed polls are meaningless. Thank you for the reminder, Mr. Gill.

Anyway, back to the City Rag article (op cit):

Tennessee Republican Party officials said the number would have an impact on this fall’s election in the state. Tennessee’s open Senate seat is becoming one of the targeted seats by Democrats nationally who want to take back control of the U.S. Senate.

And here we have yet another example of using a "heavily skewed partisan" "poll" "creating" the "news," and then "reporting" it. (Is that an effective enough use of scare quotes, Mr. Gill?)

UPDATE: A commenter on the City Rag's website points out that this is a FAVORABILITY poll, not a JOB APPROVAL poll. A ha. By timing the release of these results along with the news of Bush's crashing APPROVAL ratings, they're attempting to confuse the audience. I'll admit, I didn't catch that one myself.

UPDATE 2: Nationwide Bush approval ratings drop to 29% in latest Harris Poll.

(link...)

This is the Wall Street Journal reporting this. They're not what you would call a leftist rag by any means.