The Week In Polls--Aug. 10--We Want Olympics Live!

Political polls are in such a state of flux that they tend to provide more disinformation than true knowledge these days, so I'm trying (without a great deal of success) to stay away from them until after Labor Day.

However, Gallup has a poll on the Olympics which is worth a look, especially since it backs up my contention that Americans are not happy with pre-recorded coverage by NBC TV.

Among those watching the Olympics a lot, only 12 percent think Olympic events should be broadcast on a tape delay basis.  71 percent would prefer the events be broadcast both live and then on a tape delay basis (that's okay by me), and 14 percent want them only broadcast live.

Among those watching not at all, only 6 percent approve of the tape delay; 43 percent want they both taped and alive; 22 percent want them only live.

NBC simply doesn't care because it's obviously making scads of money with its pre-packaged pablum, but don't buy the excuse that the time difference (five hours from New York to London) forces the tape delay.  When it's 9 p.m. in London, it's 4 p.m. in New York, so there's no reason events could not be broadcast live.  Even at noon London time, it's 7 a.m. in New York, so the network could go live.  For its 8-12 p.m. slot in New York (1-6 a.m. in London), it would have to run highlights, but at least the live versions would have already aired.

As Gallup proves, Boo to NBC!

Gallup (gallup.com for a full report) breaks down viewers in several categories, and it appears that the poorer and less educated you are, the less you are watching the Olympics.  Overall 40 percent are watching a lot, 38 percent a little and 21 percent watching none.

Among those with an annual income of more than $90,000, 54 percent are watching a lot and only 12 percent none.

For those below $90,000, only 37 percent are watching a lot, 24 percent not at all.

College graduates are 50 percent a lot, 16 percent none; for those with some college, it's 44 percent a lot and 14 percent none; for high school or less, it's only 28 percent a lot, 33 percent not at all.

Interesting.

Women are also watching more than men, 43-36 percent a lot while it's 21 percent among both groups for not at all.

Young people are watching the least.  Only 33 percent of those aged 18 to 29 are watching a lot.  It's 44 percent for those aged 30 to 49, 41 percent for those 50 to 64; and 40 percent for those over 65, not that big a difference, but there's a huge gap between married people watching a lot (48 percent) and singles (only 31 percent).

As for politics, here's just a sample of why I'm trying to avoid the polls.  Gallup today has it dead even at 46-46.  Rasmussen has Romney up four (47-43) while numerous other polling outfits, including Fox, have Obama pulling away.  Fox has him up nine (49-40), Pew up ten, CBS up seven.  That's because they are oversampling Democrats who appear less likely to vote in November.  I continue to trust Rasmussen which uses only those likely to vote.

Both Rasmussen and Gallup have Obama at negative eight today while Fox has him at plus three.

The Real Clear Politics average has Obama up 4.1 points even while his approval is at minus one.

The pollster average has Obama up only 1.1 points (46.6-45.5) while his negative is minus 3.6 (49.4-45.8).

As I said, these polls really make no sense.

Individual state bad news for Obama is from Iowa where Rasmussen now has Romney up two and Colorado where CBS had Romney moving five up (most likely an outliar).

But you see, I'm doing what I promised to try to avoid till after Labor Day.

Excuse moi.