Activists and politicos were burning up and burning CNN Friday and Saturday over their recent use of a poll graphic headline that read “no clear leader” over poll results that showed Bernie Sanders clearly in the lead.

The particular screenshot of the poll that drew social media fire was from Friday night’s CNN Tonight, during which host Don Lemon and guest CNN political analyst Harry Enten discussed the situation in Iowa. Enten was clear in his commentary that the four front-runners are the only real contenders, and that he believes the nominee will come from among them.

The two tweets that started it all suggested an ulterior motive on CNN’s part.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen CNN do this before…. pic.twitter.com/dvrWirug1x — David Ian Robin 🌹 (@DavidIanRobin) January 11, 2020

CNN really wants you to know that there’s—NO CLEAR LEADER—here pic.twitter.com/QV7DOapxPJ — Samuel D. Finkelstein II (@CANCEL_SAM) January 11, 2020

Dozens of similar tweets and retweets followed.

At this point, it’s really performance art https://t.co/wf6FwWUI66 — David Sirota (@davidsirota) January 11, 2020

CNN is terrified of Sanders being the nominee. If Biden were ahead by 3 points, the chyron wouldn’t be saying “No Clear Leader”. https://t.co/bf07IWrcu2 — Jesse Hawken (@jessehawken) January 11, 2020

No clear leader? Look again: @BernieSanders IS the CLEAR LEADER. https://t.co/QyufrNYg4x — Carmen Yulín Cruz (@CarmenYulinCruz) January 11, 2020

This may be the most insane graphic I've seen yet. Any other example where CNN did this on a poll where any other candidate had a 3 point lead? I mean this is just absurd at this point. https://t.co/ljOuti3VcE — Mike from PA (@Mike_from_PA) January 11, 2020

This one was pretty funny:

#BREAKING: No Clear Leader plummets to first in multiple polls. pic.twitter.com/95Ni7SEhzT — MSDNC (@MSDNCNews) January 11, 2020

And this, obviously, was the most famous one.

Orwell meets fernwood tonight ? @davidsirota: At this point, it's really performance art https://t.co/pRRcWspXz1” — John Cusack (@johncusack) January 11, 2020

The actual segment wasn't too bad, and there is a point to be had about the margin of error:

I'm going to have to defend CNN on this one. The margin of error is 3.7% so its fair to say no clear leader. If they said Bernie was the frontrunner Warren stans would drag them for the margin of error https://t.co/X71dJdGqZV — Tim Pool (@Timcast) January 11, 2020

Nevertheless, it's a pretty big deal for Sanders to be in the lead here, and people noticed that CNN's presentation was decidedly down-played.

Missed this fact yesterday: This is the first time ever that Bernie Sanders has led the Des Moines Register poll, not just this year. He never was first in the Iowa survey in 2016. The last two DMR polls had Hillary Clinton ahead by three and two points. — Holly Otterbein (@hollyotterbein) January 11, 2020

Time for Bernie to drop out? 😜 https://t.co/tdFp9RJgTy — Krystal Ball (@krystalball) January 10, 2020

Biden in 4th but it’s a strong 4th 🤣😜 https://t.co/JNA07pN5wu — Krystal Ball (@krystalball) January 11, 2020

The question of whether CNN would label a poll this way for any other Democratic candidate, margin of error or not, seems at this point still an open one.

UPDATE: A CNN spokesperson pointed out to Mediaite that the network has used "no clear leader" in multiple recent polling graphics, including this one from September showing Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden in a tight run off:

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