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The Pew Research Center was blasted on Wednesday over a politically-fueled tweet that offers a bizarre framing of coronavirus data by congressional district.
Pew, which describes itself on Twitter as a "nonpartisan, non-advocacy data and analysis on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world," raised eyebrows with its interpretation of a new study comparing the seven-day rolling average of deaths in Democratic-controlled congressional districts versus Republican-controlled districts.
"COVID-19 deaths have declined in Democratic congressional districts since mid-April, but remained relatively steady in districts controlled by Republicans," the polling center tweeted.
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However, despite the description, the chart included with the tweet shows a much higher rate of death in Dem-controlled districts with 4.1 deaths following its peak of 7.4 deaths versus the GOP-controlled districts with 1.7 deaths following its peak at 2.0 deaths.
Critics blasted Pew for its interpretation of its own data.
"When ppl ask me what I mean when I say America's uniquely obsessive partisanship is disrupting important study and analysis, in addition to tapping into the public's worst instincts, well..." Washington Examiner executive editor Seth Mandel reacted.
"THAT is what you guys took from this graph?" conservative podcast host Allie Beth Stuckey asked Pew.
"Factually true tweet designed to spread misinformation by driving assumption," journalist Tim Pool wrote.
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