Another worthless poll
A WaPo-ABC News poll finds that:
Nearly 6 out of 10 Americans are not happy with Obama’s performance in dealing with the tens of thousands of minors who have arrived from Central America in recent months, overwhelming Border Patrol stations. All told, 58 percent disapprove of his management on the issue, including 54 percent of Latinos…
But as with other hot-button issues, congressional Republicans fare even worse in the court of public opinion, with 66 percent disapproving of the job GOP lawmakers have done to address the crisis. Almost as many Republicans disapprove of their party’s handling of the issue as say they approve, with negative ratings rising to a majority among conservatives.
Here’s the poll in its entirety: three questions. But the all-important one, both for Obama and for Congress—“do you think he/they is/are too lenient on allowing illegal immigrants in, or too tough?”—isn’t even dreamed of by the clever WaPo or the brilliant ABC.
And that’s the only question that would make any real sense of the poll. Without it, it’s just noise.
I can’t believe that the WaPo and ABC can’t figure that out, so I’ll just assume their purpose is to obfuscate. I’ve noticed that this is not unusual for polls in general. They often ask opinion questions without adding a single follow-up question to inquire as to the basis for the disapproval, and without that, the polls are nearly worthless. For example, what percentage of Obama’s growing disapproval rates is because respondents think he’s too far to the left, and what percentage is because they think he’s been not effective enough in getting his leftist agenda across? Inquiring minds should want to know.
“Inquiring minds should want to know.”
Mendacious minds want inquiring minds out of their range. Even that amount of nuance is bad for The Agenda.
I think it’s fair to say that the kind of person who would support Obama in the first place isn’t going to be too critical about what Obama actually does, otherwise they wouldn’t have considered voting for him in the first place. I think that explains why, no matter how dismal Obama’s performance is, his approval never really goes below about 40%. 40% is the number of people who will support him regardless of what he does.
Conservatives, on the other hand, tend to hold their politicians to a higher standard. They are much less likely to be the “ends justifies the means” types. As a conservative, I find myself complaining about the Republicans more than about the Democrats, although not as harshly.
The Republican party doesn’t have the advantage of the “useful idiot” support the way the Democrats do. I just can’t see how the party that supports (even if it’s only talk in most cases) individual responsibility, the rule of law, and smaller government can compete against the “Vote for us and we’ll give you free stuff!” and “It’s never your fault.” and “It’s the government’s job to make you happy.” party among the Low Information Voters.
Since the legacy media won’t do their job honestly, it is left up to new media.
How about someone construct an honest poll, then distribute it to left-wing, right-wing and centrist outlets online, then tabulate the data?
*That* would be a poll worth following.
I can’t believe that the WaPo and ABC can’t figure that out, so I’ll just assume their purpose is to obfuscate.
That would be the correct assumption. The media in general isn’t even hiding the fact that they’re in the tank for Obama, no matter what he does.
MJR, ICallahan, and I agree with your conclusion.
Agreed. And it’s scandalous – too bad Murdock or someone else don’t redress this failing.
Therefore, we have a First Amendment freedom that means increasingly less and less for matters of public interest.
It this the real plan, too?
Funny: I just got grilled for a Gallup poll for the first time, yesterday. It was a frustrating experience. The young man who was asking the questions was almost rude: “Brandon.” Sounded like an OWSer.
The questions were all about my business: was I making more money? less? the same? Was I hiring more people? fewer? the same? Did I have more customers? fewer? the same? etc., etc.
There was ONE question that asked what was the most important factor affecting my work, and I said “OBAMACARE.” “What?” “OBAMACARE! it’s costing me way more to pay for insurance….” and the little git cut me off.
Of course, if every question is in the “On a scale from one to five” format, it gives you a lot of bad data. For instance: if the economic climate is bad (yes), but you up your efforts to get work, you can maintain altitude by working harder, and the results won’t reflect the rotten economy. Of course, they didn’t ask whether I had had to compensate for anything.
IOW, very little about that poll will be useful in finding out what’s really going on with independent proprietors.
Polls are propaganda operations designed to influence, control, and rape target audiences, while claiming innocence.