Check this out. Here are near identical tweets from Vox, the New York Times, Mother Jones and the Washington Post all reporting on this Quinnipiac University poll on race relations in New York City.
It’s pretty clear that these four outlets want you to know that New Yorkers aren’t happy with NYPD officers turning their backs on Mayor Bill de Blasio at the recent funerals for slain officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu:
New Yorkers overwhelmingly disapprove of police turning their backs on Mayor de Blasio: http://t.co/fea0iYPWxX pic.twitter.com/lAUqayoWCn
— Vox (@voxdotcom) January 16, 2015
Poll "offers vindication of de Blasio strategy of waiting out police and refusing to apologize for efforts at reform" http://t.co/LpvRGdFFt8
— Michael Barbaro (@mikiebarb) January 16, 2015
New Yorkers disapprove of cops turning their backs on Mayor Bill de Blasio http://t.co/bChEtA2zQm pic.twitter.com/JgT3Wt8PzI
— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) January 16, 2015
New Yorkers really did not like the way NYPD officers protested Mayor Bill de Blasio http://t.co/7x8JqwooS6
— Mark Berman (@markberman) January 15, 2015
But the results from that Quinnipiac poll are actually much more complex than that. Not only are New Yorkers unhappy with the NYPD protests, they’re really unhappy with the Rev. Al Sharpton:
Rev. Al Sharpton gets a negative 29 – 53 percent favorability, his lowest score ever, and voters say 51 – 37 percent that he is a mostly negative force in the city, also his worst score.
Rev. Sharpton has too much influence with Mayor de Blasio, 37 percent of voters say, while 8 percent say he has too little influence and 34 percent say his influence is about right.
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Got that? A majority of New Yorkers feel Sharpton is a “mostly negative force in the city” and he’s at all time lows.
We can understand why the Sharpton news wouldn’t make the headlines of their tweets, but let’s take a look at each article to see how these outlets report on Sharpton’s incredibly negative marks:
Mentions of Al Sharpton in that Vox article? Zero.
Mentions of Al Sharpton in that New York Times article? Zero
Mentions of Al Sharpton in that Mother Jones article? Zero
Mentions of Al Sharpton in that Washington Post article? Zero
Wow.
It’s important to note that although New Yorkers aren’t happy with NYPD officers protesting the mayor or PBA President Pat Lynch, the NYPD in general — as well as Commissioner William Bratton — received positive marks in the poll:
New York City voters approve 56 – 37 percent of the job police citywide are doing, compared to 51 – 41 percent December 17. Approval today is 66 – 28 percent among white voters and 54 – 36 percent among Hispanic voters, while black voters disapprove 54 – 41 percent. Voters approve 71 – 25 percent of the job police in their community are doing.
And:
Voters approve 56 – 31 percent of the job Commissioner Bratton is doing, up from 44 – 39 percent in a December 17 Quinnipiac University poll and his highest approval since a 57 – 19 percent score June 12, 2014. Black, white and Hispanic voters all approve.
Just something to keep in mind as these same outlets breathlessly report on all things Sharpton in the future.
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