Lance and Josh commented the other day that the latest Zogby poll looked skewed. Charlie Cook's latest newsletter explains why it seems that way, at least vis a vis the Zogby "job approval" numbers:

John Zogby does not ask a job "approval" question -- at least not in the way that we are used to seeing. While virtually every other national pollster asks a variation on the "do you approve or disapprove of the job George W. Bush is doing as president," Zogby asks respondents to rate Bush's performance on a scale of "excellent, good, fair or poor." The "excellent" and "good" categories are lumped together into a "positive" rating, while the "fair" and "poor" responses are deemed "negative."

Although there is nothing inherently wrong with the way Zogby asks the question, this wording will inevitably result in a lower (and more newsworthy) job "approval" rating than the more common approach of approve or disapprove.