Spinning the Polls
The New York Times is opposed to the war, and it shows in the paper's relentless stream of negative coverage. Consider today's story about its latest poll on the war. The NYT hopefully headlines the story Opinions begins to shift as public weighs war costs.

The NYT spends the entire story exploring how support for the war is lower among blacks, lower among Democrats (like that's a shock) - and particularly on the decline in the percentage of Americans who think the war will be a cakewalk. But at the very end of the story, the paper is forced to admit the central and most important fact: overall support for the war "remains high."

Support for Mr. Bush and the war remains high. By 70 percent to 24 percent, Americans believe that the United States did not make a mistake getting involved in Iraq. But there has been a measurable decline in the national confidence that was on display last week.

Well, yes. After a drumbeat of NYT and other media coverage that made it sound as if the loss of one Blackhawk helicopter and the encountering of a few dozen hard-core Saddam loyalists in Nasiriyah represented a fundamental shift in war momentum, people are realizing it won't be a cakewalk. But opinions haven't shifted. At 70 percent, support for the president and the war is unchanged from polls taken last week. And news of big victories like the firefight at Najaf, where allies lost two tanks - but no soldiers were killed - and killed at least 150 of Saddam's terrorists, will soon rebuild the foundation of confidence among the public.

Meanwhile, a Gallup poll released yesterday found support for the war at 72 percent, with Bush's approval rating at 71 percent.

Instapundit is pointing to someone else who noted the same NYT poll spin.