The random political thoughts thread (Part Deux)

Gemini Cricket · 05-10-2006, 07:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scaeagles

Politics makes for strange bedfellows....Rupert Murdoch is hosting a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton.

That seems so odd to me. I'm wondering who is becoming more like who?

Alex · 05-10-2006, 10:04 AM

Congress has been moved to Lake Wobegon.

I was browsing through the details of the latest NYT/CBS poll that is all over the news and found this:

Do you approve or disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job? 23% approve

How about the Representative in Congress from your district? Do you approve or disapprove of the way your Representative is handling his or her job? 53% approve.

In Lake Wobegon all of the Congressman are above average. Not that this is new, according to the historical numbers in June 1978 the same two numbers were 30% and 60%. It also shows that no matter how much people are unhappy with the president they are pretty much equally or more unhappy with Congress (in 30 years the approval rating for Congress has rarely tipped over 50%).

Question #13 is also interesting ("Do you think the economy is getting better, getting worse, or staying about the same?") in that it shows that public opinion of how the economy is doing doesn't correlate very well with what the economy is actually doing.

Question #33 also reinforces that the general public isn't necessarily the smartest group of people. 63% think the president can do a lot to control the price of gas. Though it does shed a light on a political problem when you are held responsible for something over which you have little control.

The historical numbers on party approval are interesting since it shows that the party out of power in congress tends to have higher approval numbers (the grass is always greener).

In the "Sometimes we lie to the pollster" category there is Question 54 in which 63% say they are driving less because of high gas prices. This doesn't conform at all the fact that demand for gasoline has not dropped and other polls indicate that driving plans for this summer are up slightly over last year.

BarTopDancer · 05-10-2006, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

Congress has been moved to Lake Wobegon.

Isn't Lake Wobegon where Garfield met the panther in Garfield in the Rough?

05-10-2006, 10:04 AM	#2
Alex . Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 13,354	Congress has been moved to Lake Wobegon. I was browsing through the details of the latest NYT/CBS poll that is all over the news and found this: Do you approve or disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job? 23% approve How about the Representative in Congress from your district? Do you approve or disapprove of the way your Representative is handling his or her job? 53% approve. In Lake Wobegon all of the Congressman are above average. Not that this is new, according to the historical numbers in June 1978 the same two numbers were 30% and 60%. It also shows that no matter how much people are unhappy with the president they are pretty much equally or more unhappy with Congress (in 30 years the approval rating for Congress has rarely tipped over 50%). Question #13 is also interesting ("Do you think the economy is getting better, getting worse, or staying about the same?") in that it shows that public opinion of how the economy is doing doesn't correlate very well with what the economy is actually doing. Question #33 also reinforces that the general public isn't necessarily the smartest group of people. 63% think the president can do a lot to control the price of gas. Though it does shed a light on a political problem when you are held responsible for something over which you have little control. The historical numbers on party approval are interesting since it shows that the party out of power in congress tends to have higher approval numbers (the grass is always greener). In the "Sometimes we lie to the pollster" category there is Question 54 in which 63% say they are driving less because of high gas prices. This doesn't conform at all the fact that demand for gasoline has not dropped and other polls indicate that driving plans for this summer are up slightly over last year.
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