The Washington Post’s “Fact Checker” took a look at Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s claim that the “Hyde amendment is something that the majority of the country does not support”. . .
New #FactChecker –> Jayapal’s claim that ‘the majority of the country’ supports federal funding of abortion https://t.co/jyayS4rmDw
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) October 6, 2021
. . .and only gave it Two Pinocchios:
Jayapal gets the Pinocchio treatment for arguing “the majority of the country supports taxpayer funded abortion.”
Unfortunate that they only awarded 2 Pinocchio’s — even after explaining that the only polling backing Jayapal’s line was nonsense data.https://t.co/y9oLeKYAXB
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) October 6, 2021
Here’s the tortured logic behind his ruling:
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We’re often wary of polls commissioned by advocacy groups. In this case, Jayapal is relying on a poll done for a group that wants more public funding of abortions. The outcome of polls often depends greatly on the framing of questions.
But there has been little high-quality independent polling on this issue and it’s possible that attitudes are shifting. The Ipsos poll from this year asked a straightforward question that resulted in a finding that a slight majority of Americans supported Medicaid funding of abortions — in other words, the end of the Hyde amendment.
That result has to be balanced against the many other polls that reached a different conclusion, suggesting the answer is not as clear-cut as Jayapal asserts. She earns Two Pinocchios.
Maybe Kessler should check with Marist? Because what they found is VERY “clear-cut”:
If they checked in with Marist, who has tracked opinions on this issue for YEARS, they’d find pretty solid evidence the public opposes taxpayer funded abortion when it’s not a push poll. https://t.co/okrnCRco7a pic.twitter.com/HJZjjME5R9
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) October 6, 2021
It really was a “stretch”:
Remarkable effort to stretch this for Jayapal's benefit: a single outlier poll result must be "balanced" against "many other polls" "suggesting" "not as clear-cut"… 😐 https://t.co/pxwrNNa0sr pic.twitter.com/XswmMP2D87
— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) October 6, 2021
Yep:
Should've been Four Pinocchios. https://t.co/znxMzZuMRs
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) October 6, 2021
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