Herald the Pollsters!
Wait a minute! I’m confused.
Didn’t we just have mid-term elections where the Democrats took both houses of Congress, albeit by a very small minority? Didn’t the Democrats run on the platforms of “Bush is Bad, Therefore We Are Good!”, “Trust Us, We Can Do Better!”, “We’ll Solve the Problem in Iraq!”, etc.? That is what I heard day-in and day-out on the TV for months before the election. The Democrats got the voters all fired up that they were going to solve the problems in Iraq! And they got elected on that!
But what are we hearing now? According to the latest AP/Ipsos poll, the plurality of Americans, 37%, believe that Iraq is the largest problem facing the country. And even though Healthcare and the Economy were the other big “hot button” issues for the Democrats, only 12% and 10% respectively, thought those issues should be top priorities.
What is more astounding though is the reported numbers about people’s confidence in the Democrats. Believe it or not, 57% of those polled believe that the Democrats do not have a plan for handling the situation in Iraq. Imagine that – the largest issue that the Democrats won on, and people don’t believe there is a plan! Just what did people think they were voting for?
What’s even funnier is that the AP/Ipsos has been known to slant their opinion polls in favor of Democrats, and in this case, they did not disappoint. 34% of the respondents claimed to be Democrats, as opposed to 28% Republican. Just in that we see the bias built into the poll. And with that bias, the majority of people believe the Democrats have no plan. Amazing. Confusing!
It was interesting to read the article on this from the AP. Did they squawk the poll numbers at the top of their lungs as they did in every poll before the election? Why….no. In fact, they used wording to try to soften the impact. You can read the article by AP Writer Jim Kuhnhenn here, but I have selected a few quotes:
Get that? 40% of this biased poll said people believe things will be better with Democrats in control of Congress. But the reporter tries to hide the result which shows that 50% said that there won’t be any difference or the country will be worse off. What a mandate that was handed to Democrats. LOL. The majority of Americans believe that things won’t get better with them in charge. And you have to laugh at that because remember the Democratic bias built into the poll to begin with. BTW – the actual poll numbers were: Better off – 42%, Worse off – 21%, No Difference – 33%.
Let’s reverse the situation for a moment. If it had been Republicans in charge do you think the writer would have used “three out of five” or would he have blasted the number as “Nearly 60%”? Disingenuousness at it’s best.
To be honest, in the next paragraph the writer does bring the numbers out, but why not at the top of the article – in the first few paragraphs?
Oh well. I’m still confused about what the voters were thinking. According to the article, exit polls said people were worried about corruption within the government, but that is not what the new poll shows as being a priority. In fact, it did not even rank as a problem in the poll. I guess that is why Spkr2B Pelosi can name John “ABSCAM” Murtha and Alcee “IMPEACHED” Hastings to leadership positions with no concern about voter backlash.
Maybe some day it will make sense. But, hey – for now the Dems have the ball in their court. Unfortunately somebody better start giving them dribbling and shooting lessons. They can’t pass anymore!
Didn’t we just have mid-term elections where the Democrats took both houses of Congress, albeit by a very small minority? Didn’t the Democrats run on the platforms of “Bush is Bad, Therefore We Are Good!”, “Trust Us, We Can Do Better!”, “We’ll Solve the Problem in Iraq!”, etc.? That is what I heard day-in and day-out on the TV for months before the election. The Democrats got the voters all fired up that they were going to solve the problems in Iraq! And they got elected on that!
But what are we hearing now? According to the latest AP/Ipsos poll, the plurality of Americans, 37%, believe that Iraq is the largest problem facing the country. And even though Healthcare and the Economy were the other big “hot button” issues for the Democrats, only 12% and 10% respectively, thought those issues should be top priorities.
What is more astounding though is the reported numbers about people’s confidence in the Democrats. Believe it or not, 57% of those polled believe that the Democrats do not have a plan for handling the situation in Iraq. Imagine that – the largest issue that the Democrats won on, and people don’t believe there is a plan! Just what did people think they were voting for?
What’s even funnier is that the AP/Ipsos has been known to slant their opinion polls in favor of Democrats, and in this case, they did not disappoint. 34% of the respondents claimed to be Democrats, as opposed to 28% Republican. Just in that we see the bias built into the poll. And with that bias, the majority of people believe the Democrats have no plan. Amazing. Confusing!
It was interesting to read the article on this from the AP. Did they squawk the poll numbers at the top of their lungs as they did in every poll before the election? Why….no. In fact, they used wording to try to soften the impact. You can read the article by AP Writer Jim Kuhnhenn here, but I have selected a few quotes:
For every 10 adults polled, four said the country will be better off, three said it would not make much difference and two said the country will be worse off.
Get that? 40% of this biased poll said people believe things will be better with Democrats in control of Congress. But the reporter tries to hide the result which shows that 50% said that there won’t be any difference or the country will be worse off. What a mandate that was handed to Democrats. LOL. The majority of Americans believe that things won’t get better with them in charge. And you have to laugh at that because remember the Democratic bias built into the poll to begin with. BTW – the actual poll numbers were: Better off – 42%, Worse off – 21%, No Difference – 33%.
In the poll, more Americans ranked Iraq as the top priority of the new Democratic-controlled Congress, but nearly three out of five say the party has no plan to deal with the war.
Let’s reverse the situation for a moment. If it had been Republicans in charge do you think the writer would have used “three out of five” or would he have blasted the number as “Nearly 60%”? Disingenuousness at it’s best.
To be honest, in the next paragraph the writer does bring the numbers out, but why not at the top of the article – in the first few paragraphs?
Oh well. I’m still confused about what the voters were thinking. According to the article, exit polls said people were worried about corruption within the government, but that is not what the new poll shows as being a priority. In fact, it did not even rank as a problem in the poll. I guess that is why Spkr2B Pelosi can name John “ABSCAM” Murtha and Alcee “IMPEACHED” Hastings to leadership positions with no concern about voter backlash.
Maybe some day it will make sense. But, hey – for now the Dems have the ball in their court. Unfortunately somebody better start giving them dribbling and shooting lessons. They can’t pass anymore!
posted by Specter at 11/15/2006 08:12:00 AM
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