512 Obama Voters 11/13/08-11/15/08 MOE +/- 4.4 points
97.1% High School Graduate or higher, 55% College Graduates
Results to 12 simple Multiple Choice Questions
57.4% could NOT correctly say which party controls congress (50/50 shot just by guessing)
81.8% could NOT correctly say Joe Biden quit a previous campaign because of plagiarism (25% chance by guessing)
82.6% could NOT correctly say that Barack Obama won his first election by getting opponents kicked off the ballot (25% chance by guessing)
88.4% could NOT correctly say that Obama said his policies would likely bankrupt the coal industry and make energy rates skyrocket (25% chance by guessing)
56.1% could NOT correctly say Obama started his political career at the home of two former members of the Weather Underground (25% chance by guessing).
And yet.....
Only 13.7% failed to identify Sarah Palin as the person on which their party spent $150,000 in clothes
Only 6.2% failed to identify Palin as the one with a pregnant teenage daughter
And 86.9 % thought that Palin said that she could see Russia from her "house," even though that was Tina Fey who said that!!
Only 2.4% got at least 11 correct.
Only .5% got all of them correct. (And we "gave" one answer that was technically not Palin, but actually Tina Fey)
2 comments:
I have read this post several times. I must confess that I don't know what to make of it.
I have considered the following:
I suspect that a similar poll taken of Republican voters in this year or any other year would yield similar results.
I remember seeing similar 'facts' and 'figures' each of the previous two elections trying to underscore the lack of knowledge and understanding of the world by Bush voters. The South was particularly targeted with overtones that evangelicals were the bane of this country.
I myself would not have been able to affirm or refute that Obama won his first election in that fashion or that Biden had had to quit a previous campaign for those reasons (I still don't know what the question is referring to and I haven't bothered to do the research: other priorities.)
I understand the role of the media in hyping ridiculous details. The $150,000 wardrobe thing was stupid from the very first day and was an embarrassment. As for the comment that she could see Russia from her front door, that is unfortunate, but understandable given anything repeated often enough becomes taken as truth. Most still believe that the wonderful Golden Rule is taken from the Bible and if asked in a poll of Christians or the American public in general, I can only imagine what the percentages would be! The simple addition of 'unto' has been really misleading.
In essence, I think these polls are indeed telling. But although they are tailored to appeal to a certain audience and to convey a certain message, they are telling in this way: the verities of human nature are more universal than what we might like to admit.
You are probably right. Most polls have a purpose beyond trying to ascertain the state of social opinion. The purpose of this poll is to imply not that Obama voters are less intelligent, but to imply that they have been misinformed by the media.
Post a Comment