A Republican senator couldn’t explain why he thought a Washington Post poll detrimental to his party and to President Donald Trump was “biased” during a CNN interview Friday.
Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall rejected the poll’s findings: that Americans blame the president and the GOP over Democrats for the government shutdown by a margin of 17 percent. Yet when anchor Brianna Keilar asked him for evidence, Marshall wasn’t up to the task.
“I would just discount that poll altogether, and that’s not what I’m hearing back home,” Marshall told the CNN News Central anchor, after claiming that “everybody realizes this is a Schumer shutdown… driven by [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez], and the Squad, and the liberal Marxist portion of the Democrat Party.”
Keilar followed up.
“Why do you discount that?” she asked.
“Well, I just think there are so much other polls that say just the opposite,” Marshall replied, after which Keilar asked him to name one.
“I don’t have them at my fingertips right now,” Marshall answered. “I can tell you that that’s a very biased poll. I am absolutely convinced that this is a political shutdown—”
Keilar pressed him again.
“Why is it biased?” she inquired. “Can you explain?”
Marshall then had to ask who conducted the poll he had just claimed was biased.
“I don’t even know which—who is it from? I don’t even know,” Marshall said, prompting Keilar to remind him.
“I mean, if it’s biased, you should know which one it is,” she said, raising her eyebrows at him skeptically. “It’s the Washington Post poll.”
But Marshall couldn’t support his claim.
“Yeah. I don’t know. I don‘t think you can take a snapshot like that,” was all he said, before repeating his line about Schumer and AOC.
The Post poll was conducted Wednesday by texting a “nationally representative” sample of 1,010 people. Nearly half of respondents—47 percent—faulted Trump and congressional Republicans for the shutdown, which began just after midnight on Wednesday. Thirty percent blamed Democrats in Congress, while 23 percent were unsure who should bear responsibility.
Those who blamed the president and the GOP pointed to Republicans’ control of all three branches of government and their refusal to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits, among other factors.
Some of those who blamed Democrats repeated false claims by Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other Republicans that Democrats included in their funding bill a provision giving unauthorized immigrants free federal health care benefits.
According to the Post poll, 71 percent of Americans think the ACA tax credits should be extended. They are currently set to expire at the end of the year.
Poll results also showed that exactly half of independents blamed Trump and Republicans for the shutdown, compared to 22 percent faulting Democrats.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Marshall’s office asking why he believes the poll is “biased,” and for examples of other polls that he had claimed “say just the opposite.”
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