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11/12/2001
Two months after the terrorist attacks, ABC's most recent poll shows that the American public support for President Bush and the war on terrorism is unwavering. The president received an approval level of 89 percent and the military action in Afghanistan received 90 percent approval. Considering the darkly partisan mood of the country following the election, this is fantastic news! Who'da thunk it?

Yet, as he was announcing President Bush's speech on Thursday evening, 11/08/2001, Peter Jennings of ABC News said:

"This is an interesting and challenging moment for the President because in recent public opinion polls it's suggested that he's having some difficulty managing public expectation about the war against terrorism. At home, some declining confidence in the U.S. counter-terrorism efforts and on the war front. In the last couple of weeks the number of people who believe that the government is doing everything it reasonably can to prevent terrorist attacks, has gone down by about 12 points - from 68 percent in the mid-October to 56 percent now."

Earlier, during Good Morning America, the same sour note was struck: Only two poll questions were discussed. "Is the U.S. doing all it can to deter terrorism?" - 68 percent on October 15, falling to 56 percent on November 7. "Confidence that terrorism can be prevented?" - 66 percent on September 11, falling to 52 percent on November 7.

This from George Stephanopoulos:

"He's going to talk about this war, but then hone in on homeland defense, and he has to do this because he still has very strong support in the country and there's a very strong support in the war effort, but our recent polls show there's actually been a drop in the people's confidence in the government's ability to handle these attacks and a drop of about 10 or 12 points in peoples believe that the government is doing all it can to protect the homeland, so he's going to focus on that tonight."

While the above numbers are correct, it is disturbing to hear no mention at all of the brighter findings of the poll. Is ABC News trying to depress Americans? Frankly, we could do without that kind of help.

A balanced report on this poll should have at least touched on the following:

• "Do you support or oppose the U.S. military action in Afghanistan?" - 90 percent support, 9 percent oppose.
• "Do you think the U.S. military action in Afghanistan is going very well, fairly well, not too well or not well at all?" - 85 percent very well or fairly well, 12 percent not too well or not well at all.
• "Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the job Bush and his administration are doing in terms of giving the public reliable information on the military campaign in Afghanistan?" - 85 percent satisfied, 14 percent dissatisfied.

Let's ask ABC News to share all their poll findings with viewers. We can take it - but it would be nicer to swallow the bad with a little good news as well. Would it really be that painful to let us in on the secret that Americans are united after all?

Below is the contact information:

ABC
77 West 66th Street
New York, New York 10023
Phone 212-456-7777
FAX 212-456-4292

ABC News Contact Page

Owner of ABC:
Walt Disney Company
500 South Buena Vista St.
Burbank, CA 91521
Tel. (919) 560-1000

Disney Feedback Select "Television" from the "To:" field drop-down menu.

Read more here:

Media Research Center CyberAlert, 11/07/2001
ABCnews.com: Emerging Challenge