I was just looking at some poll numbers. In particular, I was just looking at Soon-to-be-Former-President George W. Bush's final job approval numbers. According to CBS, the final breakdown is:
Approve: 22%
Disapprove: 73%
Don't Know: 5%
"Don't Know"????
The man has been President for EIGHT friggin' years. EIGHT years. How the bloody hell do you not know if you approve of the job he's been doing by now? Were those people all in a coma the entire time? Good grief.
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Frankly, it takes talent to suck this bad:
President Bush will leave office as one of the most unpopular departing presidents in history, according to a new CBS News/New York Times poll showing Mr. Bush's final approval rating at 22 percent.
Seventy-three percent say they disapprove of the way Mr…
Eric Boehlert compares Bush's approval ratings with those of other presidents:
Here then, is some much-needed historical perspective to put Bush's standing in context:
*According to Gallup, on the eve of President John F. Kennedy's 1963 assassination, he was suffering the worst job-approval…
This weekend we passed a milestone. George W. Bush, the current incumbent of the White House, has less than 100 days left in his ill-starred Presidency. In 22 days we'll find out if we will have to suffer through four more years of the same thing under a McCain-Palin (or Palin - ?) administration…
Yes, another political post. What can I say?
Here's Michael Kinsley providing still more evidence that the Sarah Palin seen on television and discussed by the media bears little resemblance to the Sarah Palin that has been governing Alaska for the last two years:
Sarah Palin thinks she is a…
I had the same reaction then I remembered the 12 percent rule. Depending on which source you look at, about 12% of Americans have seen bigfoot, seen a UFO, think they are an alien, etc. etc. etc. So the actual number of politically delusional people is really only 10%.
Which is still high, of course.
This is just like the whole "undecided" voter thing the day before the election. Personally, my view is that if you haven't made up your mind whom to vote for by the day before the election, just give it up. Do us all a favor and don't bother to try to vote. This applies not just to this election but any election.
Not to defend them if this isn't the case, but perhaps these people just didn't want to be bothered with the poll. I theorize that the whole "undecided voter" business the day before the election were people who had really decided; the thing is, they just didn't want or think that people needed to know what their choice or opinion was. This may be more of the same.
Enigma
[quote]How the bloody hell do you not know if you approve of the job he's been doing by now?[/quote]
Irreconcilable moral conflict?
C'mon Orac - it's not that they aren't decided, it's that they don't want to decide. They want to go and toss darts at the ballot paper for the sport of the thing.
There are elections where that approach is just as successful at appointing a political disaster as deliberately selecting the disaster with chalice aforethought....
Not knowing isn't unreasonable a response. I find approving of Bush to be much harder to understand. In general, it isn't at all irrational for someone to say "I've thought a lot about X, and I really can't decide any strong opinion about X either way."
Ian, I disagree: its not that they aren't decided, it's not that they don't want to decide. Its that they don't want to tell the pollsters. And their position is valid.
Not knowing isn't unreasonable a response. I find approving of Bush to be much harder to understand. In general, it isn't at all irrational for someone to say "I've thought a lot about X, and I really can't decide any strong opinion about X either way."
Agreed. I can imagine some die-hard Republican and conservative Christian, who is nonetheless affected by the abuses, corruption and incompetence of the Bush administration, but can't quite admit (even to themselves) that the guy's a total wanker.
Big Foot is real. A zoologist like yourself may find the evidence compelling once you move beyond the crackpots and hoaxers portrayed in mainstream media.