About Those Obama Poll Numbers
Apr 27, 2009 Political
I have been watching the reports on Obama’s poll numbers concerning his first 100 days in office. It is obvious that the MSM is in the tank for this guy and will skew anything to make him look good. Even commenters here will spew all these poll numbers and act as if Obama is the king of the polls. There are several problems with the way the polling is used and the MSM is using numbers to make a strong case.
I have read that Obama’s approval rating was anywhere from 56% to 65% depending upon the poll. The higher numbers are generally used by the MSM and then when they compare the number to past presidents they use lower ones, especially when they are comparing George W. Bush. The other issue is that the MSM is using one poll to depict Obama and then using a poll from another polling company to show the others.
There is no doubt that Obama is popular among Democrats as he received a 79% approval from them. One major media omitted the among Democrats part.
Pew Research says Obama is at 63% while Bush was at 56%. Not very far apart especially considering the problem with the 2000 election. Interestingly, CNN/USA/Gallup had a poll showing Bush at 62%. This is the same Gallup poll that shows Obama at 56%. In fact, while the MSM is trying to make Obama out to be a polling giant, Gallup shows this:
April approval ratings in first year in office
- Bush now 62%
- Clinton, 1993 55
- Bush, 1989 58
- Reagan, 1981 67
- Carter, 1977 63
- Nixon, 1969 61
Sampling error: +/-3% pts
I don’t know why Gallup has Obama lower than the other polls but as some folks dig deeper into polls they are finding a disturbing little trend. Democrats are being polled at a much higher rate than Republicans. This means the polls are weighted toward Democrats (in one poll by a 2:1 margin). The polls do not reflect how the country is currently comprised because Republicans are underrepresented. This is how polls get skewed in order to give the results that one wants rather than what is real.
I know my liberal friends will stop by and defend the polls, will say that it is a wingnut conspiracy, and will dismiss the criticisms.
That is all well and good. I know the MSM needs Obama to be successful even if it is only on paper. They needed to come out and show that he had a larger approval rating than others (Gallup says it isn’t so) and they needed to show that they were right in getting him elected. Chrissie Matthews is not the only one who feels it is his duty to make this guy successful. Well, they can make him LOOK successful but the proof will be in what happens.
One major catastrophe, the inflation that will inevitably arrive, a nuclear Iran, North Korea, and any number of other issues, and the MSM will not be able to show it in a favorable light. Let a terrorist detonate a bomb (particularly a radioactive one) in any major city and all bets will be off. It would be terrible if that happened but wouldn’t it be ironic if after, a captive terrorist says he knew about it and would have fessed up if water boarded?
The bottom line is that one should take most of these polls with a grain of salt. I have never been a big poll watcher because the pollsters often have very different results and their sampling methods and questions are designed to get a result.
Rely on what you see and know. Are you better off? Are you making more money? Does your money go as far as it did before? Are you paying more in lesser known taxes?
Take the time to make an honest assessment of things based on your values and your judgment. You have a better understanding of your life than a pollster does.
As for Obama’s numbers. There is no doubt he remains popular. His approval rating is high or low depending upon who you ask (as it would be for any past White House occupant) and time will tell if what he is doing was good or bad.
Those of us who have seen this before know the answer and we don’t need a poll for that.
Related:
MSNBC
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Another President Who Governs By Polls
Jan 9, 2009 Political
Leadership is the ability to influence people to willingly follow those in charge. A true leader inspires people to do things and to accomplish great deeds. Those who are not leaders just go along to get along. People want to be led. They want someone in charge and they want someone who takes decisions. Well, at least they used to.
Enter Barack Obama. He won the last election by a pretty good margin and he did it by promising that government would take care of every little thing that comes along. Health care, jobs, money if you are poor, it did not matter because Obama and his Democrats would provide it. The people who elected him and who want these things have lost the ability to be independent. They have lost the will to thrive. These are people who feel they are unable to do for themselves so they must rely on government to do it for them.
George Bush, for all his failings, is a man of principle. One can argue about the principles involved but Bush did not use polls to govern. He led this country and he took unpopular stands in order to keep it safe. He will leave with about a 30% approval rating but he is not worried about that because he said that he did not govern by polls, he took decisions he thought were in the best interest of the country. Yes, there is debate as to whether they were in the best interest. Perhaps we can say that Bush was not a great leader because he failed to get people to willingly follow.
Or is that the case? The members of the military, by and large, support him and what we are doing. Perhaps they are not the dumb, uneducated people that John Kerry described but are well informed instead. The people who disapprove of our safety or who blindly follow Barack Obama would be a closer fit to the people John Kerry described, or to paraphrase; If you don’t stay in school and get a good education you become a liberal.
George Bush had high approval ratings and was perceived as doing a good job especially after 9/11. The Democrats and their media wing could not allow this so they tried to systematically destroy the president for political gain. They were successful in 2006 and 2008 but after January 20th they will hove only themselves to blame.
Barack Obama is not a leader. He has never been in charge of anything and his boldest move in office was to vote “present”. Obama, like Clinton before him, relies on polls. His transition team is now using polls and focus groups to try to ram a stimulus package through Congress. This package will undoubtedly cost over a TRILLION dollars and will prolong the recession and might well drive us into a depression.
[note]If spending money is the answer to the financial crisis then we should not be experiencing one because our government has done nothing but spend.[/note]
Relying on focus groups and polls is not leadership. The military would not be effective if leaders took a poll before every mission. Soldiers follow leaders. Outside the military people will follow a leader.
Unfortunately, in hard times people will also follow charismatic individuals who promise them the world. The people somehow lose focus on being independent and follow the person who says what they want to hear. Jim Jones, a charismatic leader, led hundreds of people who were looking for something better, something better he promised to deliver. He got them to drink poisoned Kool-Aid in a mass suicide. This is where we get the term, “drinking the Kool-Aid.”
Many in this country drank the Obama/Democratic/liberal Kool-Aid because the sainted one is a charismatic person who was able to make them believe he has the answers. Have those who consumed that Kool-Aid caused the suicide of this nation?
Obama’s decisions are based on polls which means that he is trying to govern by using popular decisions to get things accomplished. This is a recipe for disaster as Clinton demonstrated. He was not a great president and he brought us the events of 9/11. Clinton diddled while Rome burned.
“Leadership” by poll watching is ineffective and counterproductive. The popular position is not always the correct position and depending upon where polls are taken and who is asked, any preconceived conclusion can be obtained.
Sometimes a true leader must take an unpopular decision. When some serious problem exists, people do not take polls to determine how to handle the issue. However, the sheeple in this nation have decided to put their faith in a Kool-Aid dispensing, charismatic, poll watching, empty suit who could not lead them out of a burning building.
Regardless of what the polls say…
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Tags: Bush, charisma, leadership, Obama, polls
Obama Has to Win The Election First
Oct 15, 2008 Political
Barack Obama’s spiritual adviser and inspiration for his book, Jeremiah Wright, has told his congregation (which included Obama) that the chickens have come home to roost. Looks like now Barack Obama is counting them before they have hatched as are his fellow Democrats.
Obama and the Congressional Democrats are working behind the scenes to craft legislation that includes billions of dollars in spending that they will try to ram through during the lame duck session of Congress and the Bush administration. They are starting Obama’s first 100 days a bit prematurely but they are waiting until after the election so as not to tick off voters who might not be too happy with all the additional spending. The Democrats say that this legislation is important and Obama says it should happen now but now to them means after they have safely avoided the wrath of voters.
It seems a bit premature to have Obama and the Democrats working on things for would be president elect Obama since he has not actually won the election. Yes, he is up by 6-8 points nationally and leads the electoral votes but these polls are small samples (and might not be weighted correctly) so they might not be an accurate portrayal of how the events will unfold. Besides, anything can happen in three weeks.
Barack Obama, or any Democrat for that matter, should be up by a substantial margin given all that has taken place. Hillary Clinton would probably be walking away with this election had she not been slighted by her party. The polls look good for Obama but there is a nagging fear among Democrats that things could change. That fear is not so overwhelming as to keep them from planning for the win.
This might all be part of a coordinated effort among the Democrats, the Obama campaign and the media. For several weeks they have used this manufactured economic crisis (which should have been left to self correct) as a bat with which to beat McCain and the Republicans. The media and the Democrats have been reporting that the race is all but over, Obama is way ahead, McCain has gone negative because he has nothing left to lose and leaving us with the impression that the election is a mere formality. It would not surprise me to find out the MSM is manipulating poll data to favor Obama especially when one sees such differing results. Only time will tell but the media lost all credibility this election cycle when they stopped reporting news and started being cheerleaders for Obama.
This might be by design in order to dampen the spirits of Republicans and to keep them from showing up at the polls. This could be part of a Chicago style assault in order to so disparage the Republican party that they throw in the towel and concede defeat. Given that Obama won his state and federal seats by unscrupulous tactics, it is not beyond the pale that his campaign and the media would work together to steal another election.
The Obama campaign has already put out talking points for tonight’s debate to highlight The One and to discredit John McCain. This, as I see it, is a preemptive strike to take the fire out of John McCain who has vowed to kick Obama’s rear in this debate. Obama has provided his allies in the media with ammunition to help ward off blows from McCain.
He is a slick little politician but he is not change. He is typical Chicago politics and he will say or do anything to win.
My friend Eric has a good primer for John McCain and it is worth the read for all others. It lays out the questions Obama has failed to answer and that the media failed to investigate.
So Much For Obama’s Euro-Bump
Aug 1, 2008 Political
When Obambi was on his Barack Star tour of the Middle East and Europe he was well received by adoring mobs of people. This was a big moment for the Messiah as he looked at those people and realized that he was the answer to their prayers. His handlers were doing their best to ensure that the Messiah looked presidential and appeared as if he had vast foreign policy experience so much so that Obama acted like he was the president (except when he dissed the wounded warriors for political reasons). Certainly this trip was going to help his image and he would open a wide margin over John McCain, the fossilized dinosaur of yesteryear.
That bump in the polls came when Barry O returned from his “fact finding mission” (in which he stated he did not learn any more than he already knew) when he took a 9 point lead over McCain. This was the beginning of the end. The problem is, Barry has no staying power. Also, that was a national poll of registered voters. The poll of likely voters gave McCain a 4 point edge.
Yesterday’s Gallup poll shows the two are now in a dead heat with the Messiah at 45% and John McCain at 44%. That bump Obambi got from his “Look at me, ain’t I something” tour disappeared quicker than John Edwards from a late night tryst. Obama seems to have a little trouble holding onto and expanding a lead.
Of course, that is because of all the overt racism in America. People could not possibly oppose him because of his policies so it must be that they are racists. He has a funny name and he looks different so people won’t vote for him.
In this year where it looks like Democrats are going to achieve huge gains in Congress, in a year where all the cards (even the race one) are in their favor, the Messiah is having trouble. By all rights he should have a huge lead over McCain and yet he is tied. Every time he gets a lead it does not last.
It looks like the sainted one needs some Liagra to help keep keep his deception up.
It will be a long three months watching this tragedy unfold.