NationStates Jolt Archive

It's hard to imagine that any government figure could be less popular with the United States citizenry that ol' GWB, isn't it? Yes, it is. I know how much stock all y'all put into these public opinion polls, so I thought maybe this'n (http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/harry_reid_s_favorables_fall_to_19) might be interesting...


Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is now viewed favorably by 19% of American voters and unfavorably by 45%. Just 3% have a Very Favorable opinion while 22% hold a Very Unfavorable views.


Turns out he's tied with Scooter Libby in the latest Rasmussen poll...Chew on that for a while. Pretty fair comparison, I'd say. If Reid could just bring himself to promote the same amnesty for Libby that he wants for his future Democratic voters -- I mean illegal residents -- he might actually gain a few points in the popularity poll. He'd gain a few more if he'd abandon that awful amnesty bill...

About the only rising favorable rating belonged to Fred Thompson...and he hasn't declared his candidacy.

But I've said it before, and I still firmly believe that the only opinion poll that matters is the one held on election day.

Already a thread on this, and congress typically doesn't have a very high approval rating, and Harry Reid's a wuss.

That article didn't list people who didn't know who the hell Reid is, far as I could tell--I wonder if that had an effect on his numbers? I'd imagine it's a small percentage of the American populace who can name the Senate Majority Leader at any given time.

Already a thread on this, and congress typically doesn't have a very high approval rating, and Harry Reid's a wuss.
Well point the way, Bubba, I don't see anything with a dead giveaway for a title.
Not on the first two pages of posts, anyway.

I think Remote Observer brought this bit up about a month ago. It was shot down within two posts then.

1) Congress never has a high approval rating.
2) Most americans haven't a clue who the hell their congressman is.
3) Most americans probably couldn't tell you what congress actually does.

People who refer to the Reid's bill as "amnesty" are only betraying their own total lack of understanding of the issue.

That article didn't list people who didn't know who the hell Reid is, far as I could tell--I wonder if that had an effect on his numbers? I'd imagine it's a small percentage of the American populace who can name the Senate Majority Leader at any given time.
800 likely voters, that's about all the qualification I see. That's better than 800 randomly chosen. But the delta from last week is down 26%. Someone thought much more highly of him once and not too
long ago.

People who refer to the Reid's bill as "amnesty" are only betraying their own total lack of understanding of the issue.
I haven't seen anything yet that prevents any and every illegal resident to become legal. It's plain and simple forgiveness -- amnesty.

I haven't seen anything yet that prevents any and every illegal resident to become legal. It's plain and simple forgiveness -- amnesty.

Yeah! Thems illegals are tryin to invade our country and break our laws because they hate America, and they hate what America stands for: freedom!

An eye for an eye I always say! If they're gonna illegally immigrate here, I say we illegaly immigrate there!

Now ya see there's a system that all the illegals gotta go through if they want to come in here. Now ya see, if an illegal wants to come into our country legally, they gotta get on a list, and this list is based on their native origin. Cause ya see, this country right now it has a balance of origins. Like about 15% people are German, and 10% people are British americans. So if there are 12 million illegals in the country, that means about 3 % of the country is illegals, so in any given year only 3% of immigrants can be illegals and enter the country each year. Now there's a process see, just to make sure you're a good illegal and not a bad illegal! And sure it takes a lot of years to check, but after all, you are illegal! Oh yeah and not everyone can get on that list, just 3% of all illegals can be illegals, the rest are illegals. The system is there, ya see, to help America protect itself, and provide equal opportunity, and to promote life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Just imagine how great life as a legal illegal will be once you get here! But get here legally, because a legal illegal is better than an illegal illegal! Legally speaking.

Was there an "I don't know/care?" option for the poll?

I haven't seen anything yet that prevents any and every illegal resident to become legal. It's plain and simple forgiveness -- amnesty.
Because forgiving non-crimes is such a horrible thing, and the reform bill (which was defeated) sucked.

Also, I don't know what you're trying to prove by showing that Harry Reid is unpopular with the American people. Decent humans long ago came to the conclusion that the American people are, by and large, little more than irrationally selfish, nationalistic, easily rilled bigots.

Having said that, Harry Reid is a cowardly bastard who wouldn't know progressive policy if it crawled up his ass and milked his nearly seventy year old prostate.

800 likely voters, that's about all the qualification I see. That's better than 800 randomly chosen. But the delta from last week is down 26%. Someone thought much more highly of him once and not too
long ago.
Given that it's 800 likely voters in a nation wide poll and since Senator Reid is elected by the people in the state of Nevada, where he still enjoys support...

I'd really wonder about that poll as a messure.

I haven't seen anything yet that prevents any and every illegal resident to become legal. It's plain and simple forgiveness -- amnesty.
Go look at immigration laws then.

I don't seem to recall Myrmidonisia or the rest of the like putting up all these threads stating how unpopular various Congressmen are before the Democrats won Congress.

pol pot, stalin, hitler, offthetopofmyhead (real actual leader yes).

Harry Reid...whoop de doo. We couldn't have picked a bigger coward or milktoast to be Senate Majority Leader if we tried. That being said, having any sort of poll to gauge his favorability or unfavorability is statistically a dead end street. Congress is NEVER popular, it has not once in the era of pollsters and pundits been anything other than a conversational whipping post.

Ye cats, I am so sick of polls and statistical conversations. For the sake of pop tarts, leadership is not all about polls. It is about having the COURAGE OF YOUR CONVICTIONS and knowing the genuine difference between right and wrong. Polls are a valuable tool to determine trends, nothing more, nothing less.

You have to have the courage to RISK, to FAIL. Life is messy and it is not a perfect proposition, anyone who thinks otherwise is deluded.

~S

Harry Reid is a vagina.

I'm unsure what Harry Reid's national popularity has to do with anything given that he is a senator from Nevada.

If you want to compare his popularity to George W. Bush as you seem to want to do, intellectual honesty would require you to compare popularity of relevant constituents, considering what someone from New York thinks of Reid is hardly relevant to anything.

Oh wait, intellectual honesty, forgot who I was talking to for a moment there. Why don't you go find RO and USMC, I'm sure they'll agree with you, even if nobody else does.

of course, 36% of the sample responded "who?"

also, he actually only had 45% total unfavorable, while bush has about that in the 'strongly disapprove' category alone.

so yeah, not so much

Harry Reid...whoop de doo. We couldn't have picked a bigger coward or milktoast to be Senate Majority Leader if we tried. That being said, having any sort of poll to gauge his favorability or unfavorability is statistically a dead end street. Congress is NEVER popular, it has not once in the era of pollsters and pundits been anything other than a conversational whipping post.

Ye cats, I am so sick of polls and statistical conversations. For the sake of pop tarts, leadership is not all about polls. It is about having the COURAGE OF YOUR CONVICTIONS and knowing the genuine difference between right and wrong. Polls are a valuable tool to determine trends, nothing more, nothing less.

You have to have the courage to RISK, to FAIL. Life is messy and it is not a perfect proposition, anyone who thinks otherwise is deluded.

~S
"When you stick to your principles, even when you loose, you don't really." ~ Former Senater, Congressman and Ambassador Bob Krueger about loosing his Texas Senate seat to Kay Bailey Hutchinson almost entirely because he refused to fire a member of his staff who happened to be gay.

We need more guys like him.

Me.

Who Is Less Popular than George Bush?


That TB airplane dude.

That TB airplane dude.

That TB airplane dude's step-dad in the CDC.

I don't listen to polls, unless you poll the entire united States, its not going to be accurate.

I don't listen to polls, unless you poll the entire united States, its not going to be accurate.

Learn about statistics. It's not nearly as evil as evolution science.

I don't listen to polls, unless you poll the entire united States, its not going to be accurate.
Precisely why I added the disclaimer at the end. But there are a lot of folks here that think a President's day-to-day popularity should determine what his government's priorities ought to be. I would have thought that everyone had had enough of that after Clinton...

Harry Truman was more unpopular at the end of his presidency. Provided Bush doesn't try and nationalize the steel industry, or start a great depression, I doubt he'll beat give 'em hell harry.

And doubtless, sixty years from now, history professors will make a living trying to explain why everyone got bush wrong, and how he was really dead good. Much like Robert Dalek tries now with LBJ.

Precisely why I added the disclaimer at the end. But there are a lot of folks here that think a President's day-to-day popularity should determine what his government's priorities ought to be. I would have thought that everyone had had enough of that after Clinton...

Don't lie--you're smarter than that, Myrmidonisia. You know that 800 people is a statistically valid sample.

Learn about statistics. It's not nearly as evil as evolution science.

Teehee! ;)

...and of course, it'll help with "political science"


BTW ... everyone catch the newest cover of Newsweek?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19001200/site/newsweek/

"When you stick to your principles, even when you loose, you don't really." ~ Former Senater, Congressman and Ambassador Bob Krueger about loosing his Texas Senate seat to Kay Bailey Hutchinson almost entirely because he refused to fire a member of his staff who happened to be gay.

We need more guys like him.

Absolutely.

But, in the era of professional politicians instead of citizen representatives or committed public servants, polling is used as the buy all and end all of policy making. Bush screams about not using polls, but that is as big a lie as the WMD in Iraq. Rove polls and uses advanced metrics in the same manner as Clinton's people did.

It would be refreshing to hear a Senator or Congresscritter say they didn't care what the polls said and then voted their conscience, even once without fear for their reelection chances.

Chances of this happening these days? Close to freakin' zero. Some politicians "don't take a dump without a plan, son." (Quote: Fred Dalton Thompson; The Hunt for Red October) How are those plans determined? By daily polling.

Statistical variances and validity of the poll quoted for this post are dubious at best. To quote another famous person, semi-ironically "There are three kinds of lies; lies, damn lies, and statistics"- Benjamin Disraeli as attributed by Mark Twain.

~S

And doubtless, sixty years from now, history professors will make a living trying to explain why everyone got bush wrong, and how he was really dead good. Much like Robert Dalek tries now with LBJ.

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j315/crashcow/NSG/RobertDalek.jpg

Okay, it's silly. But it's late and I'm tired.

Okay, it's silly. But it's late and I'm tired.
I thought it was "Exterminate!"

The Daleks always sucked. I always figured "Hey, there's a flight of stairs. They're fucked!"

I thought it was "Exterminate!"

The Daleks always sucked. I always figured "Hey, there's a flight of stairs. They're fucked!"

Well, they figured that one out along the way, but now you're making my face burn red with embarrassed geekiness, Nazz.

Edit: they also shrieked 'obey!' a lot, too.

Well, they figured that one out along the way, but now you're making my face burn red with embarrassed geekiness, Nazz.

Edit: they also shrieked 'obey!' a lot, too.

At one point, in my high school days, I could name all the actors who had played the Doctor, even though I hadn't seen episodes with the first two in them. I wasn't quite geeky enough to have a Tom Baker scarf, but a friend did, and I was seen with him in public. I may have even been jealous.

The Daleks always sucked. I always figured "Hey, there's a flight of stairs. They're fucked!"
Which is why I was always opposed to making public buildings more wheelchari friendly by putting ramps and elevators. Couldn't our civic leaders see it was just making us more vulnerable to Dalek invasion?

Not that matters. It the latest episodes, Daleks can fly.


As for the OP: Myr must have inadvertently missed this (http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/democrats_trusted_more_than_republicans_on_10_key_issues) from Rasmussen:
Democrats Trusted More Than Republicans on 10 Key Issues
Democrats are currently trusted more than Republicans on all ten issues measured in Rasmussen Reports tracking surveys. Democrats even have slight advantages on National Security and Taxes, two issues “owned” by Republicans during the generation since Ronald Reagan took office.
amazing that Myr could have waded all the way through Rasmussen and find one stat that says a Dem is unpopular without seeing this article.
Truly amazing as it's mentioned on the very page he linked to in the OP.

Sniff sniff, smells like yet another pathetic attempt to justify Bush's unpopular policies by pointing out an instance of someone less popular. It's sorta like someone kills 5 million Jews, and then someone else comes along and kills 6 million, so the first guy can't be that bad anymore.

A variation of a tu quoque type fallacy by attempting to justify one alleged wrong by pointing out another.

Which is why I was always opposed to making public buildings more wheelchari friendly by putting ramps and elevators. Couldn't our civic leaders see it was just making us more vulnerable to Dalek invasion?

Not that matters. It the latest episodes, Daleks can fly.


As for the OP: Myr must have inadvertently missed this (http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/democrats_trusted_more_than_republicans_on_10_key_issues) from Rasmussen:

amazing that Myr could have waded all the way through Rasmussen and find one stat that says a Dem is unpopular without seeing this article.
Truly amazing as it's mentioned on the very page he linked to in the OP.
Perhaps the "My" in the name isn't just a nature of selfishness, but also a hint of "My-opia".

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j315/crashcow/NSG/RobertDalek.jpg

Okay, it's silly. But it's late and I'm tired.

I might have missed an L out of his name.

The Bob D sticker was a great touch.

Sniff sniff, smells like yet another pathetic attempt to justify Bush's unpopular policies by pointing out an instance of someone less popular. It's sorta like someone kills 5 million Jews, and then someone else comes along and kills 6 million, so the first guy can't be that bad anymore.

A variation of a tu quoque type fallacy by attempting to justify one alleged wrong by pointing out another.

Wait a second, that's the entire basis of tribal politics. Why do you have to hate democracy?

Sniff sniff, smells like yet another pathetic attempt to justify Bush's unpopular policies by pointing out an instance of someone less popular. It's sorta like someone kills 5 million Jews, and then someone else comes along and kills 6 million, so the first guy can't be that bad anymore.
A guy walks into a bar and is stunned to see Hitler sitting there, deep in conversation with Goebbels.
After a couple of dutch courage, he walks up to them and asks, "Hey -aren't you two dead already?"
Hitler replies, "Oh, Ja. But the Devil sent us back to finish the job we started. This time round we're going to kill 13 million Jews and 3 clowns."
The guy is taken back by this and says, "What the hell are you going to kill 3 clowns for, you sick monster!"
Hitler turns to Goebbels and laughs, "See? I told you no-one gave a damn about the Jews."

Ralph Nader and Osama bin Laden, to partially answer your question.

If Bush is not famous he's infamous. Broad crowd there to try to decide who is more of.. the other. Honestly tho .. Charles Manson came to mind as far as the infamy goes. As far as famous.. he doesn't have a chance.

Don't lie--you're smarter than that, Myrmidonisia. You know that 800 people is a statistically valid sample.

Sure, it may be a valid sample, that isn't my argument. What does a popularity poll tell us? Maybe we didn't get enough tips in the jar today and we don't like the rich and powerful? I don't know. I'm sure this means that either Reid or Libby or Bush are not all that popular.

Does it matter? Of course not. The only popularity polls that matter are the ones conducted by our elections officials on election day. Trying to use a daily or weekly poll to govern would be a farce. Fortunately, we don't have a true democracy, so we don't have to worry about that -- mostly.

Ehud Olmert.

For what it's worth, Ehud Olmert, the Israeli PM, has an approval rating of 3%. Given that poll's MOE, it's possible that he has no support outside of his extended family and close friends.

Sure, it may be a valid sample, that isn't my argument. What does a popularity poll tell us? Maybe we didn't get enough tips in the jar today and we don't like the rich and powerful? I don't know. I'm sure this means that either Reid or Libby or Bush are not all that popular.

Does it matter? Of course not. The only popularity polls that matter are the ones conducted by our elections officials on election day. Trying to use a daily or weekly poll to govern would be a farce. Fortunately, we don't have a true democracy, so we don't have to worry about that -- mostly.

48% of Americans believe in UFOs. 98 percent supposedly believe in God.

For what it's worth, Ehud Olmert, the Israeli PM, has an approval rating of 3%. Given that poll's MOE, it's possible that he has no support outside of his extended family and close friends.

In the weeks after hurricane Katrina, Bush had an approval rating of 2% among black voters, which was well within the MOE of the poll. Some people joked that there were potentially non-existent black voters who disapproved of him.

In the weeks after hurricane Katrina, Bush had an approval rating of 2% among black voters, which was well within the MOE of the poll. Some people joked that there were potentially non-existent black voters who disapproved of him.

Well, at least we know that Condi liked him.

48% of Americans believe in UFOs. 98 percent supposedly believe in God.

Right...

its more like 75% believe in god. Still high compared to Europe, but its dropping (thankfully :D)

Wait a second, that's the entire basis of tribal politics. Why do you have to hate democracy?

...I hate it for it's freedoms.

A guy walks into a bar and is stunned to see Hitler sitting there, deep in conversation with Goebbels.
After a couple of dutch courage, he walks up to them and asks, "Hey -aren't you two dead already?"
Hitler replies, "Oh, Ja. But the Devil sent us back to finish the job we started. This time round we're going to kill 13 million Jews and 3 clowns."
The guy is taken back by this and says, "What the hell are you going to kill 3 clowns for, you sick monster!"
Hitler turns to Goebbels and laughs, "See? I told you no-one gave a damn about the Jews."

I heard a variation of that joke before, but it was only 1 clown.

I suppose if they ever come back and carry out their evil plans, people who argue about how many clowns it really was will be legally punished for it in Austria, Germany, and at all circuses.