Poll: Census Is Not an Invasion of Privacy

Representative Michelle Bachmann has stated that the Census does not need all the information it solicits.  A Poll done by CNN/Opinion Research finds that 83% of a sample representative of the U.S. population does not think the information sought by the Census is an invasion of privacy; while 16% thought it was an invasion of privacy.

80% of the respondents to the above p0ll thought the information obtained by the Census was useful compared to 20% who did not think so.

Read more here.

The fact that the census is constitutionally mandated does not seem to deter Ms. Bachmann.  Read more here.

I think the image below, might be on to something.

The GOP is infected!

Obama Derangement Syndrome—pathological hatred of the president posing as patriotism—has infected the Republican Party. Here’s new data to prove it:

• 67 percent of Republicans (and 40 percent of Americans overall) believe that Obama is a socialist.
• 57 percent of Republicans (32 percent overall) believe that Obama is a Muslim
• 45 percent of Republicans (25 percent overall) agree with the Birthers in their belief that Obama was “not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president”
• 38 percent of Republicans (20 percent overall) say that Obama is “doing many of the things that Hitler did”
• Scariest of all, 24 percent of Republicans (14 percent overall) say that Obama “may be the Antichrist.”

The poll, which surveyed 2,230 people right at the height of the health-care reform debate, also clearly shows that education is a barrier to extremism. Respondents without a college education are vastly more likely to believe such claims, while Americans with college degrees or better are less easily duped. It’s a reminder of what the 19th-century educator Horace Mann once too-loftily said: “Ignorance breeds monsters to fill up the vacancies of the soul that are unoccupied by the verities of knowledge.”

Americans’ Health-Care Change of Heart

It didn’t take long for Americans to come around on health-care reform: A new USA Today/Gallup poll shows 49 percent of Americans saying health-care reform is a “good thing,” with only 40 percent saying it is bad. This is a marked reversal from polling from before the legislation was passed and signed, which typically showed the public opposed. Forty-eight percent of respondents also say it’s just a “good first step” that needs to be followed up with more action. Additionally, congressional Republicans rate the lowest out of all the major players: Twenty-six percent said their work was excellent or good, while 34 percent say it was poor; for congressional Democrats, those numbers are 32 and 33 percent; for Barack Obama, they’re 46 and 31 percent.

There’s that liberal media again – making things up!

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2010/01/18/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry6113291.shtml

Too Close to Call….

This latest news has the Kennedy senate seat race as too close to call.  Will it be a game changer?  If so, then how will this play into a possible (and probable) Mitt Romney presidential bid?

Alot more than health care rides on this election – IMHO.

Lilac

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/01/15/poll-too-close-to-call-in-massachusetts-senate-race/

Obama may want to look at this….

Thursday, Jan 14, 2010 18:26 EST –  Salon website

Doomsday for Obama in 2012? Not quite

New poll shows Obama losing to unnamed challenger in 2012, but outlook may not be quite as bleak as it seems

By Emily Holleman

Depending on what side of the aisle you’re on, you may have woken up to some dispiriting – or validating – news this morning: A  National Journal poll in which 50 percent of respondents said they’d vote for “someone else” other than President Obama if the presidential election of 2012 were held today. Just 39 percent of those polled said they would “probably” or “definitely” vote to reelect the president.

The results broke fairly predictably along party lines with 86 percent of Republicans saying they would vote for someone else and 77 percent of Democrats reporting they’d vote to keep Obama in office. Among independents, the story’s a bit more troubling for Obama — just 33 percent in that group said they would vote to reelect him, while 54 percent said they’d opt for the alternative to-be-named.

Now, this clearly isn’t great news for the Obama camp, but the outcome isn’t nearly as damning as it appears at first glance.

The results may have been as dim as they are in large part because the question pitted Obama against an unnamed opponent from an unspecified party. Although pollsters often use this type of generic question, it tends to yield the worst imaginable outcome for incumbents, since respondents are free to picture the anonymous opponent any way they like.

“It’s going to tend to be a worst case scenario, because it allows you to imagine whoever you want,” Pollster.com’s Mark Blumenthal says. “If you’re an unhappy progressive, you may be imagining a primary challenger, even though you might be voting for a Democrat in a general election. If you’re a Republican, you may be thinking of your ideal candidate. It may be different if the Republican candidate is Sarah Palin or someone else you’re less happy with.”

2010 Elections are going to be interesting….

This article goes into key dates and key races to watch for the 2010 elections.  Will the pollsters be correct or will there be a surprise or two in the final count?

Lilac

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/01/12/2010_political_calendar/index.html

The Most Influential Person of the Decade???

The Washington Post has offered up this group of names for nomination of the most influential person of the decade.  Who among these nominees had the greatest influence on shaping the decade? – is the criteria… The WashPo  will announce their results today.  The Choices:

George W. Bush, Timothy Giethner, Lance Armstrong, Paris Hilton, Dick Cheney, Ben Bernanke, L. Page & S. Brin, Hillary Clinton, Osama bin Laden, Barack Obama, Steve Jobs, J.K. Rowling, Hu Jintao, Jon Stewart, Mark Zuckerman, or Al Gore.

Prairie Pops, who wins your vote and why?  Is anyone else embarrassed to confess they don’t recognize all of the names on the list?  Do you have someone else to nominate – tell us who and why?

Obama Losing the “Job Approval” Support of White People

Politico reports that this latest Gallup poll shows that Obama’s job approval among white people has dipped below 40%.  Previously his support among white voters was over 60%.  Black voters rate his job approval at about 90%.  His loss of support appears to be largely due to dropping support from white voters.

My question:  Does this racial breakdown really matter in any significant way?

A different looking Democratic Party

USA Today has completed an analysis of today’s Democratic Party and found it looks different today.

The Democratic-controlled House is now an unusual combination of the richest and poorest districts, the best and least educated, and the best and the worst insured. The analysis found that Democrats have attracted educated, affluent whites who had tended previously to vote Republican.

Democrats now represent 57% of the 4.8 million households that had incomes of $200,000 or more in 2008. In 2005, Republicans represented 55% of those affluent households.

This new data indicates that when talk turns to raising taxes on the most affluent to pay for initiatives like health-care reform, there are very influential constituents inside the party that would effect.

More here.

fnord

Rove comments on the Rush v. Powell debate

Rove comments on the Rush v. Powell controversy:

Yes.  That made sense.  Thank you…

VOTE REPUBLICAN!

The results of a new online poll offer cold comfort for anyone hoping that Barack Obama’s election might be the beginning of a post-partisan era for American politics.

A total of ninety-one percent of self-identified conservatives described Obama’s political philosophy as “Socialist,” “Marxist,” “Communist” or “Fascist,” according to the poll, which was conducted between May 12 and 19 on ConservativeHQ.com.

Nearly 2,600 people voted in the poll, including 1,848 individuals who identified their own political philosophy as “conservative.” Only a total of 7 percent of participants described Obama to be liberal (5 percent) or progressive (2 percent).

http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/05/20/obama-poll-radical/

One can only conclude, then, that conservatives obviously know what they’re talking about. After all, if Obama is a combination of a Socialist, Marxist, Communist AND Fascist, he has to be THE most dangerous person who ever stepped foot on this planet.  There is no way this poll can be skewered to reflect anything BUT the truth. Included is a video that tells you exactly why you should vote Republican.

jammer5

Obama is an Intelligent Liberal and Many are Rooting for Him

In his NYTimes op-ed Timothy Egan asserts that many in our country recognize that Obama is a liberal AND  are still for him.  He says:  “Nearly 60 percent in the NBC/Wall Street Journal Poll viewed him as ‘very or somewhat liberal.’ And, with a shrug and thumbs up, they’re cheering for the new guy.”

Egan further states “Obama’s broad support points to an old American character trait – pragmatism. It can tilt conservative or liberal, as resilient as the times.”

Is it really possible that we are opting for pragmatism, i.e. “getting the job done” regardless vs. ideology?  I want to believe this is true, but I fail to be this optimistic.  I hope I am wrong.  What do you bloggers think?

iggy donnelly

Obama’s First 100 Days

Wednesday marks the end of the first 100 days of the Obama presidency.

Maybe I was hearing conservative leaning sources, but I distinctly recall over the last few days getting the message that the favorability ratings of a president’s first 100 days don’t really mean too much.  The comments I recall were like:  “why, George W. Bush had high favorability ratings his first 100 days” – which if this had been true, would have, indeed, countered the meaning of these statistics.

This New York Times poll indicates that Bush’s approval ratings of 56% after his first 100 days were quite a bit lower than Obama’s 68% for the same time period.  While true, Bush enjoyed extremely high favorability ratings immediately after the 9/11 attacks, his presidency will be remembered for its overall consistent low marks.

Obama’s message that he is a “change president” has taken hold, but this notion has been tempered by the recognition that there is so much to be done, the agenda may take more than four years.  Especially heartening, is the public’s perception of improved race relations as result of the Obama presidency.

Read the full report here.

Iggy Donnelly