Gallup Facepalm

[JaneQPublic]

6. Glaring problems elsewhere with Gallup data

I downloaded the Gallup "complete trend" data file for their Obama Job Approval polls. This file has all results for their 3-day rolling survey from Obama's first few days to recent days. (It's available from the gray button on this page:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/113980/Gallup-Daily-Obama-Job-Approval.aspx

However, some glaring errors were immediately evident, where they obviously placed Approval and Disapproval data in the opposite columns. Check the bold rows in Jan 2009, where one day they have Obama's Approve number is 14 and the next is 65.

There is another obvious case of reversed data in the most recent data (again bold). I personally posted on DU about Obama's Approval numbers hitting 54 and then 52, after it was announced on the Gallup home page. But this data file of theirs has it bass-ackwards again!

These silly errors certainly undermine the Gallup organization's ability to process and manage data.

"Gallup Daily: Obama Job Approval",
"Each result is based on a three-day rolling average",
-------------------------------------------------------------------------,
Date,"% Approve","% Disapprove",
"01/21-23/2009","12.0000000000","68.0000000000",
"01/22-24/2009","13.0000000000","69.0000000000",
"01/23-25/2009","14.0000000000","67.0000000000",
"01/24-26/2009","65.0000000000","15.0000000000",
"01/25-27/2009","64.0000000000","16.0000000000",
"01/26-28/2009","64.0000000000","17.0000000000",
"01/27-29/2009","66.0000000000","17.0000000000",



"09/23-25/2012","43.0000000000","51.0000000000",
"09/24-26/2012","44.0000000000","50.0000000000",
"09/25-27/2012","45.0000000000","50.0000000000",
"09/26-28/2012","47.0000000000","48.0000000000",
"09/27-29/2012","46.0000000000","46.0000000000",
"09/28-30/2012","46.0000000000","47.0000000000",
"09/29-10/1/2012","45.0000000000","48.0000000000",
"09/30-10/2/2012","44.0000000000","50.0000000000",
"10/1-3/2012","42.0000000000","54.0000000000",
"10/2-4/2012","43.0000000000","52.0000000000",
"10/3-5/2012","45.0000000000","50.0000000000",
"10/4-6/2012","46.0000000000","48.0000000000",-------------------------------------------------------------------------,
SOURCE: http://www.gallup.com/,