POLL ALERT! (Not really) POLL ALERT!

8 Responses to POLL ALERT! (Not really) POLL ALERT!

1. edwardo3 says:

   20 April 2010 at 10:36 PM

   I think that even drunk, concussed, and just plain stupid, I’d expect an ultra-liberal nominee.
2. Hans says:

   20 April 2010 at 11:16 PM

   That clearly means that 39% of Americans right now are drunk, concussed, or just plain stupid.

   Some share (small, I hope) of these people are probably so far to the left that they think that the current president is a moderate or a mild conservative. Seriously, I’ve met such people; it’s one of the joys of teaching at an American university.
3. AndyMo says:

   21 April 2010 at 9:14 AM

   I agree with Hans. I’ve noticed that liberals have a pathological inability to see themselves as liberal. Most consider themselves moderate and anything to the right of them as fascist. The 39% would see Castro as a moderate.
4. Eric says:

   21 April 2010 at 9:34 AM

   Maybe it’s the same 39% that didn’t vote for John McCain because he wasn’t pro-life “enough.”
5. Doc Angelicus says:

   21 April 2010 at 1:28 PM

   OK, well, how about this… When you think about it, the ends of the spectrum aren’t liberal and conservative, but liberal and authoritarian or perhaps totalitarian (although totalitarian liberalism is becoming a reality now, too). What I mean is, “conservative” is really the middle position in the true spectrum, although it’s considered the right end of the spectrum. So, everything else to the left of conservative is liberal. So, 90% of people think Obama will appoint someone who is liberal.

   Look at it another way: The categories “somewhat liberal” and “somewhat conservative” and “moderate” all mean the same thing. Seriously, a liberal who is not “very liberal” is somewhat conservative, and a poll respondant could be thinking of such a person as “not very liberal.” I would say that “somewhat conservative” actually refers more to someone who is basically liberal, and not to someone who is basically conservative.

   To say that coffee is “somewhat cool” means it’s not as hot as it should be. To say that it is “somewhat hot” means it’s not as cool as it should be (as in coffee that’s too hot to drink). (Again, the spectrum is not between scalding and ice where leukwarm is the actual center [which by analogy makes conservative the moderate position], but between scalding and leukwarm, where the middle is still hot [which means moderate is still liberal].)

   Therefore, it is not unreasonable that every response except “very conservative” and “no opinion” should count as liberal. So, again, 90% think he’ll appoint a liberal of some sort.

   The people who are drunk are the 7% who said he’d appoint someone who is “very conservative” and the 3% who don’t know. In fact, I’d say that 7% are delusional or they don’t know what is meant by “very conservative.”

   So the basic problem is that the poll is poorly designed. It should have had choices of “Very liberal,” “mostly liberal,” “neither liberal or conservative,” “mostly conservative,” and “very conservative.”
6. joan ellen says:

   21 April 2010 at 3:22 PM

   Doc Angelicus, thanks! I like your thinking, but it is getting easier for me to just pray and leave it all to God. Yet I appreciate the ‘sorting and separating’.
7. edwardo3 says:

   21 April 2010 at 5:15 PM

   Liberalism is not only a sin, but a mental disorder.
8. Vetdoctor says:

   21 April 2010 at 5:19 PM

   Not True. I only had one beer :-)

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