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The Reliable Mainstream Media vs. The Alternative Scum


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Let's go back in time. Summer 2016. Trump opines on that Leader of the Free Press, the National Enquirer:

 

"There was a picture on the front page of the National Enquirer, which does have credibility," Trump said to a room of volunteers and staffers in Cleveland, adding that the tabloid "should be very respected."

In May, Trump had said to Fox News, "You know, his father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald's being -- you know, shot....Right prior to his [Kennedy's] being shot, and nobody even brings it up. I mean, they don't even talk about that. That was reported and nobody talks about it."

The story Trump referenced had appeared in the National Enquirer and was immediately debunked. The Washington Post said Trump had made "a ridiculous claim." Politifact concurred, saying that the photograph was "too degraded to offer much confidence," and experts it consulted "consider Trump's claim implausible at best and ridiculous at worst."

 

So now we know that Trump and that "credible" supermarket checkout rag were in cahoots, planting and killing stories all in service of Trump and at the expense of his competitors.

 

Ted Cruz was incensed in 2016, but now he's ... weirdly quiet. Not a peep out of him since it was revealed at Trump's trial that the Enquirer just photoshopped Cruz's father into a photo of Oswald. The manly Senator just bends over and takes it now. Maybe he wants to be Attorney General.

 

Cruz figured it all out in 2016:

 

“The CEO of the National Enquirer is an individual named David *****,” Cruz said at a [2016] campaign event. “Well, David is good friends with Donald Trump. In fact, the National Enquirer has endorsed Donald Trump, has said he must be president.” The senator lamented that his young daughters would someday “read these lies, these attacks that Donald and his henchmen, that his buddies at the National Enquirer spread” about their father.

After the tabloid went after Cruz’s father, and Trump seized on the story, the senator also told reporters that the future president was a “pathological liar,” adding in reference to Trump, “He doesn’t know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth.”

 

The mainstream media - and Cruz himself - nailed it at the time. It was a preposterous lie, and this time planted by Trump and his "alt media" supporters. 

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The problem lies in your first sentence, Let's go back in time. Seems that's all that many on the left want to do, talk about how many bad things Trump did years ago. A good friend of mine says that to win in November Biden should just keep harping on Jan. 6th, 2021. I don't disagree with the strategy as there isn't much else he has to run on. From the botched Afghanistan withdrawal to mispronouncing Laken Riley's name, then apologizing for referring to her murderer as illegal rather than undocumented, from the mess at the border to inflation, things haven't gone well for Joe. So just keep hammering home the fact that politicians lie, we'll see how that works out.

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2 minutes ago, Steve O said:

The problem lies in your first sentence, Let's go back in time. Seems that's all that many on the left want to do, talk about how many bad things Trump did years ago. A good friend of mine says that to win in November Biden should just keep harping on Jan. 6th, 2021. I don't disagree with the strategy as there isn't much else he has to run on. From the botched Afghanistan withdrawal to mispronouncing Laken Riley's name, then apologizing for referring to her murderer as illegal rather than undocumented, from the mess at the border to inflation, things haven't gone well for Joe. So just keep hammering home the fact that politicians lie, we'll see how that works out.

Except that's not my point.

 

My point is that the so-called mainstream media isn't perfect. Sometimes they repeat what campaigns feed them. Sometimes they fail to do their own investigations and fact-checking before they report an allegation. The reports on the Steele Dossier are an example.

 

But that's different than actually making stuff up out of whole cloth at the urging of a particular candidate. That's how this ridiculous "Ted Cruz's father was close to Oswald" story started. And obviously knowing that the story was made up, Trump harped on it in his campaign. And that was only possible because Trump essentially controlled what the Enquirer did.

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12 minutes ago, Steve O said:

Seems that's all that many on the left want to do


Oh ok

 

Don’t you love when Karen upstages your argument?

 

Look at all these active threads:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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20 minutes ago, Steve O said:

I don't disagree with the strategy as there isn't much else he has to run on. From the botched Afghanistan withdrawal to mispronouncing Laken Riley's name, then apologizing for referring to her murderer as illegal rather than undocumented, from the mess at the border to inflation, things haven't gone well for Joe. So just keep hammering home the fact that politicians lie, we'll see how that works out.


Biden has a TON to run on and you know it. That’s why @BillsFanNC and the rest of the cult is politicking in the gutter - you freaks have NOTHING else to run on.

 

So, what will this guy run on?

 

This?

 

giphy.gif?cid=2154d3d78a432a77185df3700d
 

Or this:

 

giphy.gif?cid=2154d3d7p4z4hiv3s4j1nf07o4
 

What about this?

 

giphy.gif?cid=2154d3d78a432a77185df3700d

 

I’m sure this is a winning message:

 

giphy.gif?cid=2154d3d78a432a77185df3700d

 

 

 

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13 minutes ago, BillStime said:


Biden has a TON to run on and you know it. That’s why @BillsFanNC and the rest of the cult is politicking in the gutter - you freaks have NOTHING else to run on.

 

So, what will this guy run on?

 

This?

 

giphy.gif?cid=2154d3d78a432a77185df3700d
 

Or this:

 

giphy.gif?cid=2154d3d7p4z4hiv3s4j1nf07o4
 

What about this?

 

giphy.gif?cid=2154d3d78a432a77185df3700d

 

I’m sure this is a winning message:

 

giphy.gif?cid=2154d3d78a432a77185df3700d

 

 

 

So I say that Biden's best strategy is to keep hammering Trump's behavior. Then you tell me how Biden has plenty of positives to run on, then go on to point out what a dirt bag Trump is rather than tell me all the good things Biden has done? And you think you're not making my point for me? How does that even make sense?

Edited by Steve O
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MSM nails it on Musk and his 180 (now 360) on affordable Teslas.

 

https://www.reuters.com/technology/tesla-jumps-musks-promise-more-affordable-cars-eases-growth-fears-2024-04-24/

 

Recall that Musk called the original Reuters story false. The markets, however, understood that it was true. So now Musk has gone back to saying his focus is on building an affordable EV.

 

Check back on the threads where Reuters is called fake news and Musk's self-serving statements are considered the Bible truth.

30 minutes ago, BillsFanNC said:

Imagine in 2024 using reliable and mainstream media in the same sentence.

 

:lol:

 

How to tell everyone that you're a useful idiot and that you should be mocked and ignored.

So says the fool who votes for the guy who calls the National Enquirer "credible."

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32 minutes ago, Steve O said:

So I say that Biden's best strategy is to keep hammering Trump's behavior. Then you tell me how Biden has plenty of positives to run on, then go on to point out what a dirt bag Trump is rather than tell me all the good things Biden has done? And you think you're not making my point for me? How does that even make sense?

 

Biden has numerous accomplishments to campaign on, and he indeed does. Moreover, he is contending with the most corrupt POTUS in our lifetime. So, why wouldn't he emphasize the threat Trump poses to our national security?

 

 

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1 hour ago, The Frankish Reich said:

Except that's not my point.

 

My point is that the so-called mainstream media isn't perfect. Sometimes they repeat what campaigns feed them. Sometimes they fail to do their own investigations and fact-checking before they report an allegation. The reports on the Steele Dossier are an example.

 

But that's different than actually making stuff up out of whole cloth at the urging of a particular candidate. That's how this ridiculous "Ted Cruz's father was close to Oswald" story started. And obviously knowing that the story was made up, Trump harped on it in his campaign. And that was only possible because Trump essentially controlled what the Enquirer did.

The MSM has a significant and obvious liberal bias.  With the exception of Fox News.  The score is something like 10 to 1 liberal bias but the left pretends its a tie game.  What I still can't wrap my head around is how did current day liberals transform from traditional liberal beliefs, cynics, and critics of big government to lovers of it? 

Edited by All_Pro_Bills
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4 hours ago, The Frankish Reich said:

Except that's not my point.

 

My point is that the so-called mainstream media isn't perfect. Sometimes they repeat what campaigns feed them. Sometimes they fail to do their own investigations and fact-checking before they report an allegation. The reports on the Steele Dossier are an example.

 

But that's different than actually making stuff up out of whole cloth at the urging of a particular candidate. That's how this ridiculous "Ted Cruz's father was close to Oswald" story started. And obviously knowing that the story was made up, Trump harped on it in his campaign. And that was only possible because Trump essentially controlled what the Enquirer did.

CBS made up the story about Bush in 2004 wholly and completely and they were debunked with 24 hours by a bunch of basement dwellers. Your statement is not only wrong but if you believed it when you wrote it you are stupid.

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27 minutes ago, Orlando Tim said:

CBS made up the story about Bush in 2004 wholly and completely and they were debunked with 24 hours by a bunch of basement dwellers. Your statement is not only wrong but if you believed it when you wrote it you are stupid.

Did he say they were perfect?  Maybe I missed it.  

 

Me thinks you missed the point.

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3 hours ago, All_Pro_Bills said:

The MSM has a significant and obvious liberal bias.  With the exception of Fox News.  The score is something like 10 to 1 liberal bias but the left pretends its a tie game.  What I still can't wrap my head around is how did current day liberals transform from traditional liberal beliefs, cynics, and critics of big government to lovers of it? 

The better question is how did everyone develop the need to only want to consume biased media?  I get it takes a long time to research everything on our own, but it's better than gobbling down propaganda.  Either way, I don't think being bombarded by liberal media really changes any conservative minds anyways.  Fox has good ratings, because their viewers won't watch anything else.  

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Just now, B-Man said:

 

Tell me again how everyone else is biased.

 

:lol:

Most people are.  that's the point I was making.  The problem is you're caught in the everything has to be this or that crowd.  If it's not from Fox, then it's from some equally bad liberal sources.  If like he said, it's 10-1 liberal MSM, then that's at least more choice.  It's funny my analysis of MSM makes you think I'm being biased.  They have you right on the hook, where they like you.  

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34 minutes ago, L Ron Burgundy said:

Did he say they were perfect?  Maybe I missed it.  

 

Me thinks you missed the point.

He stated "that's different than actually making stuff up out of whole cloth at the urging of a particular candidate" which is EXACTLY what CBS did. I am very aware s lot of these smaller "news" organizations take a small piece of info and blow it up beyond reason but to pretend that the MSM is not doing the same when you are our age is being intentionally stupid. 

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This thread, solely for the use of “reliable” in the title deserves instant classic status. Here’s a nice read that highlights many of our “reliable/imperfect” mainstream media puking all over themselves. Reliable? Laughable. Hard to believe Frankish would hit the submit button with that title. 
 

 

 

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4 minutes ago, JDHillFan said:

This thread, solely for the use of “reliable” in the title deserves instant classic status. Here’s a nice read that highlights many of our “reliable/imperfect” mainstream media puking all over themselves. Reliable? Laughable. Hard to believe Frankish would hit the submit button with that title. 
 

 

 

 

As a scientist who has spent years studying other respiratory viruses, the media gaslighting during covid made me flip the switch.

 

I went from merely being skeptical of media that had long had an obvious left leaning bias to not believing anything at all.

 

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1 hour ago, JDHillFan said:

This thread, solely for the use of “reliable” in the title deserves instant classic status. Here’s a nice read that highlights many of our “reliable/imperfect” mainstream media puking all over themselves. Reliable? Laughable. Hard to believe Frankish would hit the submit button with that title. 
 

 

 

A matter of statistics. 
“Mainstream Media” = maybe a couple dozen sources max. Do they get everything right, right away? Of course not. Maybe they hit .900. Or .800. 
“Alt Media” = thousands of sources. Ridiculous conspiracy tweeters like Pizzagate Jack. Opinion twitter monkeys like those often cited here, offering a hot take on some MSM story. Completely fake propaganda sites posting from Russia. Cherry pick the good ones (nobody here does) and you may approach MSM reliability. But just assume that a National Enquirer or Pizzagate Jack story/tweet is reliable? I even see Alex Jones cited here. I don’t know the batting average, but “Mendoza Line” is probably applicable. 

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16 minutes ago, The Frankish Reich said:

A matter of statistics. 
“Mainstream Media” = maybe a couple dozen sources max. Do they get everything right, right away? Of course not. Maybe they hit .900. Or .800. 
“Alt Media” = thousands of sources. Ridiculous conspiracy tweeters like Pizzagate Jack. Opinion twitter monkeys like those often cited here, offering a hot take on some MSM story. Completely fake propaganda sites posting from Russia. Cherry pick the good ones (nobody here does) and you may approach MSM reliability. But just assume that a National Enquirer or Pizzagate Jack story/tweet is reliable? I even see Alex Jones cited here. I don’t know the batting average, but “Mendoza Line” is probably applicable. 

Nobody is suggesting you not run with “reliable” to describe what we are getting from Fox, MSNBC, CNN, NYT, WaPo, and the rest. Hoo boy…

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9 hours ago, The Frankish Reich said:

A matter of statistics. 
“Mainstream Media” = maybe a couple dozen sources max. Do they get everything right, right away? Of course not. Maybe they hit .900. Or .800. 
“Alt Media” = thousands of sources. Ridiculous conspiracy tweeters like Pizzagate Jack. Opinion twitter monkeys like those often cited here, offering a hot take on some MSM story. Completely fake propaganda sites posting from Russia. Cherry pick the good ones (nobody here does) and you may approach MSM reliability. But just assume that a National Enquirer or Pizzagate Jack story/tweet is reliable? I even see Alex Jones cited here. I don’t know the batting average, but “Mendoza Line” is probably applicable. 

Stories that the MSM lied about since 2020: COVID origin, Hunter laptop, "most secure election in history", outdoor protest are safe but school is not safe, police brutality.  Those are the things I can think of in less than a minute. Your assurance that they hit .800 is laughable. CNN actually went to a news first concept and their ratings tanked because no one was interested, though I did actually watch more then. Your grabbing Pizzagate as your example is the definition of cherry picking, because so few believed it. 

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25 minutes ago, Orlando Tim said:

Stories that the MSM lied about since 2020: COVID origin, Hunter laptop, "most secure election in history", outdoor protest are safe but school is not safe, police brutality.  Those are the things I can think of in less than a minute. Your assurance that they hit .800 is laughable. CNN actually went to a news first concept and their ratings tanked because no one was interested, though I did actually watch more then. Your grabbing Pizzagate as your example is the definition of cherry picking, because so few believed it. 

I think its important to view the "problem" with the MSM from the perspective of not only what they tell you, but also what they don't tell you.  What might be characterized as lying by omission.  Journalistic activism.     

 

Take the border chaos as an example.  The MSM would lead you to believe this is purely an epics humanitarian crisis.  And we're obligated to handle it in the manner its being handled.  Its not a failure of the administration in Washington to control and secure our border.  Or a failure to deal with the Mexican government's intransigence to do nothing. Or a failure to stem the tide of drugs and criminal cartel activity.  Or a failure to show any concern for the safety and job efforts of border agent.  Or a failure to address catch and release crime, stress on city and state budgets, impacts on citizens and business, the quality of life.  All more or less secondary.  Immigrants murdering Americans?  No problem.  Americans murder Americans too.  The idea of closing the border and prohibiting anyone from entered in the current manner is inconceivable.  Our Federal government is powerless here but they can force Americans to use correct pronouns and arrest people quietly praying in front of abortion centers.  Because that makes somebody feel "unsafe"  But letting 10 million illegals into the country making everyone feel unsafe?  Not a problem.  Secure our borders, not so much a concern.  And every complaint or criticism of the administrations handling of the crisis is met with "but Republicans rejected a bi-partisan "solution" to the border crisis".  No mention the terms of the bill were unacceptable.  Its like Biden's team is writing the news and these puppets are reading the teleprompter.  The MSM news has become a politicized version of a specific political parties view of reality and is no longer an objective, factual source of truth.

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Honestly Frank, there isnt much integrity left in news, imo. 95% of what is pitched on MSM as news is just thinly veiled opinion.  Less veiled on Fox than CNN, but no less opinionated.  I don't trust any of them, tbh.  

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That Finding would even create this thread should tell you all you need to know.

 

The process of ideological subversion is complete in Finding.

 

Now the media lies about a lot, but nowhere do they lie more consistently and often than with the great orange menace.

 

Here's a running list.

 

https://sharylattkisson.com/2024/01/50-media-mistakes-in-the-trump-era-the-definitive-list/

 

From the relatively innocuous:

 

31. Nov. 6, 2017:
CNN edited a video that made it appear as though Trump impatiently dumped a box of fish food into the water while feeding fish at Japan’s palace. The New York Daily News, the Guardian and others wrote stories implying Trump was gauche and impetuous. The full video showed that Trump had simply followed the lead of Japan’s Prime Minister. ”

It was worse. CNN seems to have shot a video of the full AFP video through a square mask that was moved around to show Trump emptying the container, hide him spoonfeeding the fish, to hide Abe emptying his container and show him spoonfeeding the fish. This was no mere error. It took a lot of work to, in my opinion, maliciously defame the president.

 

To election interference.

 

157.  March 17, 2022

The New York Times, CNN, MSNBC and many others falsely reported that the Hunter Biden laptop scandal story was “unsubstantiated” and/or “Russian disinformation.” In September, 2021, the New York Times quietly deleted its false “unsubstantiated” claim. In March 2022, the newspaper acknowledged that the FBI did have a laptop belonging to Hunter Biden, which contained scandalous material and possible alleged evidence of criminal activity.

 

Along with the false reporting by the Times and others, social media giants censored the story, incorrectly calling it “false” and “disinformation.” Polling later revealed that a large number of Biden voters would not have voted for Biden in 2020 if they had known about the censored Hunter Biden laptop story

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13 hours ago, daz28 said:

Most people are.  that's the point I was making.  The problem is you're being caught in the everything has to be this or that crowd.  If it's not from Fox, then it's from some equally bad liberal sources.  If like he said, it's 10-1 liberal MSM, then that's at least more choice.  It's funny my analysis of MSM makes you think I'm being biased.  They have you right on the hook, where they like you.  

It would be hypocritical of me to disagree with this. Recently watched a 2008 HBO mini-series about John Adams. There is a scene from the first Continental Congress where Tom Wilkinson, portraying Ben Franklin, shouts that there is no room for anyone at this congress who isn't willing to compromise. George Washington warned against the party system in his farewell address: "Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally...The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge...is itself a frightful despotism..."

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Let's put this one in Findings ridiculous thread.

 

Any "journalist" who passed journalism 101 had the tools to confirm the authenticity of Hunter's laptop.

 

Sorry, not sorry. IT WAS ALWAYS REAL. 

 

Pravda NPR, like the rest of the media, instead did this:

 

 

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Two stories that are unquestionably among the top 10 of the past 50 years:

 

- Covid-19

 

- The 2020 election.

 

There is irrefutable evidence that the MSM lied extensively during both of them.

 

And here we have Finding Qanon creating a thread to prop up a corrupt to the core institution.

 

Bold move dude!

 

:lol:

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8 hours ago, All_Pro_Bills said:

I think its important to view the "problem" with the MSM from the perspective of not only what they tell you, but also what they don't tell you.  What might be characterized as lying by omission.  Journalistic activism.     

 

Take the border chaos as an example.  The MSM would lead you to believe this is purely an epics humanitarian crisis.  And we're obligated to handle it in the manner its being handled.  Its not a failure of the administration in Washington to control and secure our border.  Or a failure to deal with the Mexican government's intransigence to do nothing. Or a failure to stem the tide of drugs and criminal cartel activity.  Or a failure to show any concern for the safety and job efforts of border agent.  Or a failure to address catch and release crime, stress on city and state budgets, impacts on citizens and business, the quality of life.  All more or less secondary.  Immigrants murdering Americans?  No problem.  Americans murder Americans too.  The idea of closing the border and prohibiting anyone from entered in the current manner is inconceivable.  Our Federal government is powerless here but they can force Americans to use correct pronouns and arrest people quietly praying in front of abortion centers.  Because that makes somebody feel "unsafe"  But letting 10 million illegals into the country making everyone feel unsafe?  Not a problem.  Secure our borders, not so much a concern.  And every complaint or criticism of the administrations handling of the crisis is met with "but Republicans rejected a bi-partisan "solution" to the border crisis".  No mention the terms of the bill were unacceptable.  Its like Biden's team is writing the news and these puppets are reading the teleprompter.  The MSM news has become a politicized version of a specific political parties view of reality and is no longer an objective, factual source of truth.

I get your point on the border crisis. Most of the reporting is really poor.

But some of the mainstream media reporting is superb, and that's not because it's pro-Biden. For example:

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/29/us/us-border-arizona-migrant-crossings.html

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/31/us/us-immigration-asylum-border.html

 

From the second one, on the pull of loose asylum laws and the overwhelmed system:

 

The United States is trying to run an immigration system with a fraction of the judges, asylum officers, interpreters and other personnel that it needs to handle the hundreds of thousands of migrants crossing the border and flocking to cities around the country each year. That dysfunction has made it impossible for the nation to expeditiously decide who can remain in the country and who should be sent back to their homeland.

“I don’t know anyone who has been deported,” Carolina Ortiz, a migrant from Colombia, said in an interview in late December at an encampment outside Jacumba Hot Springs, about 60 miles southeast of San Diego and a stone’s throw from the hulking rust-colored barrier that separates the United States from Mexico.

 

Or this:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/masses-of-migrants-overwhelm-panamas-darien-gap-73d032d7

 

There is a good depth of reporting out there. Yes, in the Opinion sections the liberal approach dominates. But there is also actual reporting - sending a reporter to Panama, to the SW border, talking to people, analyzing statistics. I'll give some credit to Fox's Bill Melugin too for actually being there and asking some hard questions, but I guess now even Fox counts as "mainstream." Thank goodness that this type of actual reporting still happens in the mainstream media. The Alt Media is all hot takes and sloganeering. It's ok I guess for what it is, but for many people that kind of thing is their sole source of news. That's a bad thing.

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https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/desantis-has-one-of-the-highest-disapproval-ratings-for-governors-poll/

 

This is clearly an over sampled Democrat survey. NBC knows the data is garbage but made sure they printed it. You can argue it is technically correct In that they actually did a poll but any poll that only has Desantis up 2 pts in Florida is crazy. He has not only the die hard political people, but the vast majority of the  "normal" parents, and of those that did not like him 2022 many have moved out of state. 

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