Washington Post Polls Democrats; Shows Support for Iraq Mission

The Washington Post features the results of their latest poll, and uses a headline suggesting bad news for the administration and the war in Iraq:

Most in Poll Want War Funding Cut

Most Americans oppose fully funding President Bush's $190 billion request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a sizable majority support an expansion of a children's health insurance bill he has promised to veto, putting Bush and many congressional Republicans on the wrong side of public opinion on upcoming foreign and domestic policy battles.

If that were the case, it would be no surprise. After all, the poll is heavily skewed toward Democrats. Consult the demographic information at the end of the poll:

Generally speaking, do you usually think of yourself as:

Democrat, 33 percent;
Republican, 24 percent

NET LEANED PARTY

Democrat, 50 percent;
Republican, 38 percent

If you skew a poll far in favor of Democrats, your answers will be unreliable.

That said, if you read a little further, you discover these results:

• In July 'nearly 6 in 10' said they wanted to decrease the number of troops there, but now they favor the president's approach over that of Congress by 52%-43%.

• Almost all of those who would like congressional Democrats to do more to oppose the Iraq war disapprove of how the president has handled it, but about a quarter want U.S. troops to remain in Iraq until civil order is restored. More than a third see Bush's plan to withdraw the "surge" troops by next summer as about right or even too fast.

• Barely a third of liberal Democrats approve of the job Congress is doing; in April, 59 percent approved. Among independents, 24 percent approve, equaling last year's pre-election low mark for the GOP-controlled Congress.

• Sixteen percent of adults say that Congress has accomplished 'a great deal' or 'a good amount,' while 82 percent say 'not much' or 'nothing.'

One might have expected a poll that relied so heavily on Democrats to produce no good news for Republicans. That's not the case here, though.