CBS Ignores Own Poll Showing Support for Tax Cut

CBS Ignores Own Poll Showing Support for Tax Cut

CNSNews.com
Friday, March 2, 2001

A CBS News poll of people who watched President Bush's Tuesday night address to Congress found a wide majority of Americans supporting Bush's proposed $1.6 trillion tax cut – but the network didn't even mention the survey results in its own evening newscast.

According to the CBS News poll, 67 percent of those questioned approve of the Bush tax relief plan, while 31 percent oppose it. However, the results of the network's survey didn't receive any mention during the Wednesday broadcast of the "CBS Evening News," according to Media Research Center, a network news watchdog group.

Are Omaha 'Experts' More Reliable Than CBS?

Rather than mention the poll results, the network relied on a report featuring two women from Omaha, Neb., both of whom indicated they thought Bush's plan cut taxes too much, MRC noted. Media Research Center is the parent organization of CNSNews.com.

Bush on Thursday formally rolled out his plan for across-the-board tax cuts amounting to $1.6 trillion over the next 10 years. Democrats are proposing a smaller tax cut.

While the network declined to broadcast the results of its survey during the Wednesday evening news program, which was anchored by Dan Rather, it did publish the results on CBS News' Web site.

The poll was conducted by Knowledge Networks among a national random sample of 978 adults, and the network called the poll "scientifically representative" of the public's response to Bush's speech.

The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percent, based on the entire sample, and 4 percent among those who viewed or heard the speech.

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