Which Poll to follow? Easy. The one that gives you the results you seek.

Polls have always been a way for partisans to provide evidence that they are “On the side of the people”. But how does a political operative choose which poll to use? That’s easy. Choose the poll that fits your political agenda. The funny thing is one week Gallup may be your source for inspiration and the next week they can be goring your ox and you are forced to cite sources that FoxNews may frequent such as Rasmussen Reports.

Today is a an excellent example of partisan cheering for a poll as pointed out on MediaMatters.org, the  Gallup Daily: Obama Job Approval shows a bump for President Obama:

Gallup Daily: Obama Job Approval

And yet another source tells an entirely different story as seen here on Rasmussen Reports Daily Presidential Tracking Poll:

Rasmussen Reports: Daily Presidential Tracking Poll

The undeniable storyline though, is that Obama’s approval ratings are heading back up or down depending on whom you choose to cite. An excellent example of this turning into feigned outrage is when MediaMatters.org mocks those citing Gallop as seen on MSNBC. In a posting back on Oct 17 2008 the feigned outrage roared when MediaMatters.org posted: “Selectively citing Gallup poll’s findings, Morning Joe joined Drudge Report in touting “Gallup shock”.

The clips taken from an MSNBC segment show that choosing a poll is easy, just make sure they are the facts as you want to see it.

NOTE: If you are running a blog or site and want to run a poll try Google Docs for Live Polls. See video here from Chris.Pirillo.com .