Cognitive Dissonance In Polling

From RealClearPolitics.com:

A new FOX News poll (April 22-23, 900 RV, +/- 3%) finds President Obama with a 62% job approval rating, up 4 points from three weeks ago. Obama now has a 61.8% RCP Average job approval rating.

In Congress, the poll finds Democrats with a 50%/40% approval/disapproval rating and Republicans at 36%/52%. Democrats lead 46%-33% in the generic congressional vote.

Asked whether they were satisfied with the way things are going in the country, 46% now say they are at least somewhat satisfied, up 26 points from January. And 69% say they are satisfied with what Obama has accomplished during his first 100 days in office.

I find this very curious, even to the point of questioning the poll.  Recall:

Exhibit A: the stock market since all of this happened:

Exhibit B: the national debt since Obama has been in charge:

And 46% of the people polled think this is satisfactory, and 69% think Obama is doing a satisfactory job??  Where are these people living?!  Not the same country I'm in, that's for sure!

Since I have no way of knowing if this poll is crooked, I'll assume it's valid.  As such, I suspect these results are probably much more a case of Obama skating past the consequences of his actions and policies than anything else.  The media has provided him almost complete cover on every foreign policy gaffe he's committed and weakness he's displayed while simultaneously blanketing the public communication pathways with his hypocritical economic propaganda messages in such a way that only his message gets out.

If this poll is representative of the greater American public, the Right has some serious work to do between now and 2010.  These economic and national security time bombs are squarely the result of Obama's policies and philosophies, so the responsibility for them absolutely must be tied to him.  If that happens, the Democrats will take a severe pounding at the polls in 2010.  If not, well...it'll just be more of the same disastrous HOPE! and CHANGE!

But...

Gateway Pundit provides an alternative suggestion on what may really be going on by looking at yet another poll showing puppy dogs and rainbows:

The AP is trumpeting this bombshell today...
AP Poll: After Obama's 100 days, U.S. on right track

Wow! More Americans believe that the US is on the right track today (48%) than on the wrong track (44%).
Really?...

No.
Only 18% of those polled consider themselves Republican.
Bill Mitchell discovered this latest polling outrage:

The AP is trumpeting a new poll showing that for the first time in many years, a MAJORITY of Americans believe America is headed in the right direction.

At first read you might ask yourself, how the heck is this possible?

Well it's easy is you totally jack the sample. This poll includes (get ready for it) only 18% REPUBLICANS! 18%!

I guess that's what they had to get to to reach their majority saying America is headed in the right direction.

This is an 18 point sampling advantage given to Democrats. Folks, the communist state has arrived. AP is Pravda.

Here's a closer look at the polling data:

Page 21 of the poll.
Only 18% of those polled consider themselves Republican.
Pravda would be proud.

So, the reality is that polling twice as many Democrats as Republicans still only nets the pollster a 4% favorability for where we're headed.  Translation: not even Democrats -- the normal rank-and-file, good people who live and work in the real world, not the radical Dem leadership -- like where we're headed, and the media is having to work harder and harder to portray their messiah as successfully healing the sick, lowering the oceans, and repairing the universe.

There's my two cents.