Tag Archives: Poll

Are people who vote Democrat smarter than people who vote Republican?

Video from Neil Simpson’s round-up.

The Pew Research Center, a liberal organization, actually did a study on this uninformed voter problem.

Excerpt:

So Republicans are more knowledgeable than Democrats, contrary to what many would like to believe.

According to whom?  None other than the Pew Research Center, a left-of-center organization.  Moreover, Pew’s latest survey only reaffirms previous surveys demonstrating the same result.

In fact, the results weren’t even close.

In a scientific survey of 1,168 adults conducted during September and October of last year, respondents were asked not only multiple-choice questions, but also queries using maps, photographs and symbols.  Among other subjects, participants identified international leaders, cabinet members, Supreme Court justices, nations on a world map, the current unemployment and poverty rates and war casualty totals.

In a 2010 Pew survey, Republicans outperformed Democrats on 10 of 12 questions, with one tie and Democrats outperforming Republicans on just 1 of the 12.  In the latest survey, however, Republicans outperformed Democrats on every single one of 19 questions.

[…]Those Pew results are confirmed by some surprising other sources.  According to a New York Times headline dated April 14, 2010, “Poll Finds Tea Party Backers Wealthier and More Educated.”  Shattering widespread myths, that survey revealed that Tea Party supporters were more likely to possess a college degree than their counterparts (23% to 15%), and also more likely to have completed post-graduate studies (14% to 10%).  Tea Partiers were also more likely to have completed “some college” by a 33% to 28% margin, and substantially less likely to have not completed high school than non-supporters (3% versus 12%), or to possess only a high school degree (26% versus 35%).

Previously, I posted about how Democrat voters understand very little about economics, whereas Republicans understand more.

Excerpt:

Who is better informed about the policy choices facing the country—liberals, conservatives or libertarians? According to a Zogby International survey that I write about in the May issue of Econ Journal Watch, the answer is unequivocal: The left flunks Econ 101.

Zogby researcher Zeljka Buturovic and I considered the 4,835 respondents’ (all American adults) answers to eight survey questions about basic economics.

The first question was “Restrictions on housing development make housing less affordable.” The unenlighted answer for that one is “disagree”, since restrictions on development reduce the supply of available housing. Demand stays the same and so there is a shortage, and prices rise. D’uh!

Here are the others:

The other questions were: 1) Mandatory licensing of professional services increases the prices of those services (unenlightened answer: disagree). 2) Overall, the standard of living is higher today than it was 30 years ago (unenlightened answer: disagree). 3) Rent control leads to housing shortages (unenlightened answer: disagree). 4) A company with the largest market share is a monopoly (unenlightened answer: agree). 5) Third World workers working for American companies overseas are being exploited (unenlightened answer: agree). 6) Free trade leads to unemployment (unenlightened answer: agree). 7) Minimum wage laws raise unemployment (unenlightened answer: disagree).

And the results:

How did the six ideological groups do overall? Here they are, best to worst, with an average number of incorrect responses from 0 to 8: Very conservative, 1.30; Libertarian, 1.38; Conservative, 1.67; Moderate, 3.67; Liberal, 4.69; Progressive/very liberal, 5.26.

It’s true, the majority of Democrat voters are people who don’t work at all, or they “work” for government, or they “work” in education, or they hold picket signs while on strike, or they are in prison, or they are chasing ambulances, or they are Hollywood celebrities. No economics knowledge is required for any of that. Republicans work in private industry, and many of us own small businesses. So we actually have to work to earn money, because we have competitors to watch out for and consumers to please. Many of us are married and many of us have to get along with our spouses and raise children. Republicans don’t need the government, we do fine making our own decisions, and making our own way without help from the government.

UPDATE: I think this ad says a lot about who votes Democrat:

Their great plan is to borrow money from our children in order to provide contraceptives to unmarried college students. Is that something to vote for? Remember the Life of Julia? Their vision is cradle-to-grave government dependency, with husbands and fathers made completely unnecessary.

Polls show voters swinging to Romney after decisive debate victory

Robert Stacy McCain reports on the latest post-debate polls, but urges us to be cautious about believing them now, just because they are in our favor.

He writes: (links removed)

Nevertheless, for several months, I had been saying that I thought the outcome of the election would hinge on the debates, and the one-sided ass-whupping Romney put on Obama may have triggered a decisive shift that the polls are already beginning to detect.

If you check the Real Clear Politics national average, you see that Sept. 26/Oct. 1, Obama held a lead of four or more points after having been tied with Romney just a month earlier. According to Gallup’s tracking poll, Obama had led by 6 points most of the way from Sept. 19/Oct. 2. Both of these key indicators now show a trend toward Romney, who has closed the gap to 3 points in Gallup and 1.6 points in the RCP, which is mirrored in recent state-by-state results for Florida, Ohio, Colorado andWisconsin.

However, to emphasize again, polls are a lagging indicator. What is important in studying election polls is to follow the trendline, and we don’t yet have enough results from different firms to be able to say (on Oct. 7) that Romney’s looking like a definite winner for Nov. 6.

And McCain also links to this story about one of the bluest counties in the United States: (links removed)

You’d have to reckon that our president’s handlers thought that he would be safe visiting Cleveland, Ohio, a place that helped him win Ohio four years ago. Cuyahoga County yields the majority of Democratic votes from our state. But there’s trouble for Team Obama there today, in a dearth of Democrat registrations.

Here was how Mr. Obama was greeted at a local market:

An Ohio market vendor told President Barack Obama on Friday that his business has been going “terrible” since the president’s arrival, according to media reports.

Obama was greeting different vendors at Cleveland’s West Side Market when he came upon the proprietor of Rolston Poultry.

According to the White House pool report, Obama asked the man how business was going.

“Terrible since you got here,” he replied.

[…]That small business owner summed up the sentiments of many Ohioans, reflected in the new Rasmussen poll, also cited in the PJ Media piece on Obama’s Buckeye state woes.

So, there’s a problem with registering Dems in Cuyahoga County? That’s according to analysis by Clinton Cooper of Election Insights, who has been involved in local and regional government and politics for the last 10 years, including at The Ohio State University and in a policy advisory role for several government agencies and consulting firms in Ohio. Mr. Cooper claims that his data shows that the changes in voter registration in Cuyahoga County have made it extremely difficult for Obama to win Ohio.

Remember, the Paul Ryan vs Joe Biden VP debate is on Thursday night this week.

Bill Maher: Obama looked like he spent all of my million-dollar donation on weed

Was Obama resuming his childhood habits this week?
Was Obama resuming his childhood habits this week?

Here’s the story from Newsbusters:

BILL MAHER: I’m sorry, but if you missed it, I don’t know if you heard what happened this week, but his wedding anniversary was Wednesday, and that was the same day as the debate. He apparently had the sex first and was completely spent, had nothing left, and it wound up Romney looked like the big winner and he looked like the Big Lebowski. What the f–k happened there? No, I was fascinated to watch these two men, I mean the contrast in their demeanor. Now we know what Romney looks like when he’s all charged up, and now we know what Michael Jackson looked like when he was on the diprivan.

[Laughter, applause, boos]

You f–king liberals, let me tell you something, you got to get on the reality page! I’m sorry. He sucked. He looked tired. He had trouble getting his answers out. It looks like he took my million and spent it all on weed.

Actually, Obama used much harder drugs earlier in his life, like cocaine. He admits it in his book. I assume he kept it up through university, as well, and the professors just kept passing him because of affirmative action.

What’s shocking about this line from Maher is that he gave Obama a one million dollar donation for his campaign. That’s a lot of money. It shows a lot of support for Obama. If Maher is disappointed with Obama, that’s a bad thing. It means that Obama REALLY messed up in that debate. Bill Maher is a fairly famous person here in America – he has a show on HBO. A lot of people were watching him say that.

Video here. WARNING: Contains very bad language. The F-word is used multiple times.

Let’s take a look at the latest poll: (some links removed)

Republican challenger Mitt Romney has shot ahead of President Barack Obama in polls taken since Wednesday night’s debate. In the debate, Mr. Romney won handily over Mr. Obama, who looked irritated and confused at times.

Not only have new polls shown Mr. Romney now leading President Obama nationally, but the Republican has also taken the lead in key swing states. This comes after Mr. Obama was leading in all polls prior to the debate.

In Colorado, both Gravis Marketing and McLaughlin & Associates, Mr. Romney now leads. Gravis’s poll shows the GOP candidate with a 49.4-45.9% lead. McLaughlin shows a 50-46% lead for Mr. Romney.

In Florida, WeAskAmerica and Rasmussen Reports show Mr. Romney with a multiple-point lead. According to Rasmussen, Romney leads 49-47%. WeAskAmerica has the numbers at 49-46%.

In Virginia, again, WeAskAmerica and Rasmussen Reports show Mr. Romney in the lead. Rasmussen has Romney leading 49-48% over President Obama. WeAskAmerica shows Mr. Romney with a 48-45% lead.

Finally, WeAskAmerica has Mr. Romney leading Mr. Obama by one point in Ohio. Their poll shows a 47-46% lead for the challenger; and this percent comes even though WeAskAmerica polled 4% more Democrats than Republicans in Ohio.

Both Rasmussen and National Journal polls have Mr. Romney now leading nationally.

I posted the video and transcript of the debate previously here.