CNN Poll: Country split on how things are going

[youfiad]

What is there not to trust about the polls? They asked for a perception and people give it. And many people do care about their jobs and livelihood.

Meh. I guess everybody sees things differently. I guess that's why I said that I don't trust these polls based on what I've seen. If you have seen something different, by all means, accept the statistics.

 

[xbuzzerx]

I think you're both looking at it in a different way.

The poll's just basically "do you think the country's in a good state"... kind of just an opinion question. So in that sense an answer can't really be wrong.

Opinions can, of course, be very misinformed. That's true. I doubt if most Americans could give a coherent and meaningful description of WHY things are either good or bad, based on their answer.

That being said I think the OP was making a very specific political argument with this thread, and his position isn't validated by the poll, as Just_Believe18 and others pointed out.

 

[youfiad]

If your opinion doesn't match mine, xbuzzerx, you're automatically wrong

Another thing that I have with such opinion poles is because people get emotional. I see people who complain about the economy, but who go out there and blow their moneyon stupid crap all the time. Then, you have people like me, who work hard and, at the end of the day, end up with quite a bit of money in savings, who are doing fairly well. I'm not necessarily saying that this is in the scope of this particular pole, but people are just stupid.

 

[TX-Beau]

There is no nation on the planet that has a huge majority of people who are “informed.” It’s extremely ill “informed” to bitch about how ill “informed” voters are. It’s ignorance to think that politics functions on accurate information - it never has, no where, at no time in history has that ever been the case. Even people who know the “facts” are swayed by emotion and perception – in fact you’d be hard pressed to find two “informed” voters who agree on what “fact” is. Even with it staring both of them in the face.

Frankly the “informed” voters are the most likely to rigidly adhere to their emotions and perceptions and call them facts than anyone else.

An OPINION poll is just that – and an OPINION poll is not trying to be a scholarly study, and since the people polled are the people in the electorate – feel as pretentious, superior, and precious as one likes – that’s pretty fucking relevant to the state of political OPINIONS in the country.

So long as we can agree on methodology of course. (grin)

 

[youfiad]

There is no nation on the planet that has a huge majority of people who are “informed.” It’s extremely ill “informed” to bitch about how ill “informed” voters are. It’s ignorance to think that politics functions on accurate information - it never has, no where, at no time in history has that ever been the case. Even people who know the “facts” are swayed by emotion and perception – in fact you’d be hard pressed to find two “informed” voters who agree on what “fact” is. Even with it staring both of them in the face.

Frankly the “informed” voters are the most likely to rigidly adhere to their emotions and perceptions and call them facts than anyone else.

An OPINION poll is just that – and an OPINION poll is not trying to be a scholarly study, and since the people polled are the people in the electorate – feel as pretentious, superior, and precious as one likes – that’s pretty fucking relevant to the state of political OPINIONS in the country.

So long as we can agree on methodology of course. (grin)

I agree with your first sentence when you say that no country has a majority of the citizens that are informed. However, you contradict yourself in your second sentence by saying that it's ill informed to "bitch" about this? Firstly, nobody was bitching, secondly what is that even supposed to mean? That's like saying that a cancer specialist is ill informed because the general populous, who knows hardly anything about cancer, makes uninformed claims about cancer. At least, that's what I have interpreted based on what you wrote. Maybe you meant something different, but it's not clear.

Other than that, I agree with most of what you said, especially about people being emotionally persuaded to beleive many things. I have also noted that and catch myself doing that often. Being aware of our emotions is a good way to separate ourselves from those who are unwilling to admit it, in my opinion. I know many liberals who follow the whole emotional movement that is based solely on emotion rather than reasons because that's what progressivism seems to be based on these days. A good example of that would be socialism (whole 'nother topic that I don't want to dive into in this thread). I don't believe that socialism is a good thing, overall, even though emotionally, I wish it were.

Opinion polls are opinion polls, I agree, but you must realize that more often than not, they are used for political purposes and often misrepresented in media (Fox news anyone?). Maybe it's just me, but I tend to read these polls then just take a complete memory dump of it and throw it aside as BS. Call me crazy.

To illustrate what I'm trying to say, I have a few examples when I was told to give my opinion on a topic that I wasn't very well informed in. I told them, "I don't really know enough information to give a good opinion" to which I was told that it's just an opinion. I seem to have a rather different view of what having an opinion should be. Sure, if something is, "What's your favorite color"? I will readily reply to. When it starts to become more educated, I tend to step back and check myself .

 

[White Eagle]

Actually it would appear that your every post is a desperate attempt at a slight of the current President despite being elected to a second term by historic margins. Weird huh?

Well, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do to get the hatred out there.

 

[chance1]

Well, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do to get the hatred out there.

Did u cum when u pressed "send"

If not opportunity lost

 

[MystikWizard]

Trolls should not be fed.

 

[Jack Springer]

Of course this completely overlooks the years of financial collapse that followed Bush's 2nd term.

Why not look at things in the present? it's 2013.

 

[Jack Springer]

Well, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do to get the hatred out there.

What does that mean? You frequently mention that people highjack threads -- are you trying to hijack this one?

 

[CowboyBob]

What does that mean? You frequently mention that people highjack threads -- are you trying to hijack this one?

Just like you did here.

 

[Jack Springer]

Yikes. So just disregard everything that happened in the past? This country had one the worst financial collapses in 2007/08 under the Bush administration... so it's just something to ignore? Should we also ignore Herbert Hoover's role in the 1929 Depression? If one doesn't learn from the past, they'll be doomed to repeat it.

I do know that it's not 1929 -- but I wonder if you do.

We have to deal with today's problems and issues. I know you're smart enough not to blindly follow someone -- why do that with Obama?

 

[tigerfan482]

I do know that it's not 1929 -- but I wonder if you do.

We have to deal with today's problems and issues. I know you're smart enough not to blindly follow someone -- why do that with Obama?

Because today's problems and issues are a direct result of things done in the past. The situation people are in today, which is directly related to how they would answer that opinion poll question, is a result of past administrations and past legislative action (or inaction.) In government, what's happening today is a result of the additive effects of actions that were taken years ago in addition to the actions being taken now. What actions are taken now won't be fully realized until years down the road. That fact can't be ignored when reading the results of opinion polls. If you don't learn from the past (or just choose to pretend it never happened), then you are indeed doomed to repeat it.

 

[rareboy]

49% say things are very or fairly well
51% say pretty or very badly

sounds decent right ? it's up a couple points from November polling ........ but wait



conventional wisdom suggests the guy running the country might try to unite people right ?

yeah

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.co...ntry-split-on-how-things-are-going/?hpt=hp_t1

Of course...probably most people would also lay a lot of the blame at the feet of the Legislative Branch.

But I suppose you think it is all about the guy you hate in the White House.

four more years there Chance.

 

[chance1]

Of course...probably most people would also lay a lot of the blame at the feet of the Legislative Branch.

But I suppose you think it is all about the guy you hate in the White House.

four more years there Chance.

Hate is a word u throw around as often as u miss the bowl with your spray

In this case posting a poll from CNN constitutes

Hate is what u have in ur grinch like heart for the US - perhaps driven by envy

You need to find some new material

 

[Jack Springer]

No wait, tiger... I get what he's saying all the problems today are Obama's fault because of some silly ridiculous partisan rhetoric that decides one cannot talk about what happened under the Bush administration.

You're not listening. Accept that Obama is our President. He's been elected twice. He's in charge. Along with all the gloss and glamour comes responsibility. Obama is the big man in Washington -- leader of the free world.

I get the feeling that somehow many liberals cannot accept that Obama is President -- they're happy he got elected but somehow lack the faith that he can get the job done or accept responsibility for his actions. I'm just not sure how to express it.

 

[Rolyo85]

Try expressing it with silence. Less awkward for everyone

 

[HenryReardon]

1 - cnn thinks o/w - they're an established news organization - hard for you to say with any oomph that they don't know what they're doing

And the liberal bias of CNN is equally well established. They weren't called the Clinton News Network for naught.

 

[Kulindahr]

... opinion poles ...

What a gloriously accurate typo!

 

[xbuzzerx]

Why not look at things in the present? it's 2013.

Jack. Read:

Because today's problems and issues are a direct result of things done in the past. The situation people are in today, which is directly related to how they would answer that opinion poll question, is a result of past administrations and past legislative action (or inaction.) In government, what's happening today is a result of the additive effects of actions that were taken years ago in addition to the actions being taken now. What actions are taken now won't be fully realized until years down the road. That fact can't be ignored when reading the results of opinion polls. If you don't learn from the past (or just choose to pretend it never happened), then you are indeed doomed to repeat it.

Any point Chance THOUGHT he was making by bringing up this poll failed because it wasn't a survey on how the President was doing (which was obviously what he was trying to correlate with the poll on inauguration day) and because a lot of the state of the country people are unhappy with are because of 8 years of Republican policy that nearly collapsed our economic system and skyrocketed our debt on two wars which were completely unpaid for.

Hate is a word u throw around as often as u miss the bowl with your spray

In this case posting a poll from CNN constitutes

Hate is what u have in ur grinch like heart for the US - perhaps driven by envy

You need to find some new material

Did you SERIOUSLY just say this out loud? You?