I blogged the other day, as did many, about a new Harris poll of Republicans that found many hold to some, ahem, interesting beliefs -- 57 percent think he's Muslim and 24 percent say he may be the antiChrist (hopefully not the same people, because that raises all kinds of fascinating theological inconsistencies).
Many have written about this survey, folks much smarter than me when it comes to polling. Below I shamelessly swipe from a posting on AAPORnet.
In all, significant doubts about the kind of poll conducted (online, it seems), the kinds of questions asked, the results themselves. In other words, Republicans are not this dumb -- but the poll may be. There's much comfort in that thought.
Showing posts with label harris poll. Show all posts
Showing posts with label harris poll. Show all posts
Friday, March 26, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
What People Know ... about Obama
I'm not sure I believe this poll, but here's one lede:
The socialist thing, yeah, I kinda buy that number among Republicans. The Muslim thing? About 20 percent of Americans believe that nonsense (while, curiously, also criticizing him for belonging to that Chicago church with the kooky -- yet Christian -- pastor). But a quarter of GOPers think he's the Antichrist? Based on what? Everyone knows the Antichrist's name is Damien and he has Gregory Peck as a father.
If ever a nation needs to take a deep breath, we are the one . . . and now is the time.
On the heels of health care, a new Harris poll reveals Republican attitudes about Obama: Two-thirds think he's a socialist, 57 percent a Muslim—and 24 percent say "he may be the Antichrist."I can't find many methodological details of this poll, nor can I find it (yet) picked up by any serious news organizations. According to the story linked above, 2,230 people participated in the Louis Harris survey conducted during the heat of the health care debate. The full results are supposedly going to be released tomorrow (Wednesday).
The socialist thing, yeah, I kinda buy that number among Republicans. The Muslim thing? About 20 percent of Americans believe that nonsense (while, curiously, also criticizing him for belonging to that Chicago church with the kooky -- yet Christian -- pastor). But a quarter of GOPers think he's the Antichrist? Based on what? Everyone knows the Antichrist's name is Damien and he has Gregory Peck as a father.
If ever a nation needs to take a deep breath, we are the one . . . and now is the time.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Confidence in Major institutions
I'm always a sucker for surveys and one of my favorites is tracking people's confidence or trust in major institutions such as Congress, the military, the press, and all the rest. You can tell a lot about the whims of public opinion by examining them over time.
Using Harris poll data drawn from here, let's look at a few.
The Press. Of course I start here, being a journalism guy. Since 2002 the press has seen a high of 16 percent saying they have "a great deal of confidence" to a low of 2009, where it sits at 12 percent. Still, that's probably within the margin of error. There's also a category for Television News and the latest number was 22 percent. It's bounced around the 20 mark for several years.
Colleges and Universities. Gotta go here too given that a major university pays my salary. This has actually gone up from a low of 33 percent with "great confidence" to 40 percent this year. Woo woo! We rock.
Wall Street. Oh what a beating Wall Street has taken, so it's no surprise that the richies have dropped from 19 to 4 percent of people having great confidence. Four percent? That's the lowest of any of the 16 institutions examined. Even Congress, which has slipped to 9 percent from a high of 22 percent.
Organized Religion was at its lowest in 2002 but now is at 28 percent. Not bad.
Overall, most major institutions have seen a drop in confidence over time. This is nothing new. I remember in graduate school reading a textbook, The Confidence Gap, that discussed the trend from the 1970s as trust in major institutions slowly eroded (in part a Watergate effect, in part Vietnam, in part everything else).
Coincidentally (not really) I am working on a research paper that examines trust in government and how being a winner or loser in an election affects your trust. Lots of people have mined this territory, including a couple of professors of mine in grad school, but I'm taking a different twist that, as far as I can tell, no one has explored yet. More when I get the blasted thing actually finished, but basically I'm looking at winners and losers and whether or not you expected to win (but lost) and how that may lead to even less trust. And there's media stuff there too. Sigh ... if I finish grading, maybe I can get back to it.
Using Harris poll data drawn from here, let's look at a few.
The Press. Of course I start here, being a journalism guy. Since 2002 the press has seen a high of 16 percent saying they have "a great deal of confidence" to a low of 2009, where it sits at 12 percent. Still, that's probably within the margin of error. There's also a category for Television News and the latest number was 22 percent. It's bounced around the 20 mark for several years.
Colleges and Universities. Gotta go here too given that a major university pays my salary. This has actually gone up from a low of 33 percent with "great confidence" to 40 percent this year. Woo woo! We rock.
Wall Street. Oh what a beating Wall Street has taken, so it's no surprise that the richies have dropped from 19 to 4 percent of people having great confidence. Four percent? That's the lowest of any of the 16 institutions examined. Even Congress, which has slipped to 9 percent from a high of 22 percent.
Organized Religion was at its lowest in 2002 but now is at 28 percent. Not bad.
Overall, most major institutions have seen a drop in confidence over time. This is nothing new. I remember in graduate school reading a textbook, The Confidence Gap, that discussed the trend from the 1970s as trust in major institutions slowly eroded (in part a Watergate effect, in part Vietnam, in part everything else).
Coincidentally (not really) I am working on a research paper that examines trust in government and how being a winner or loser in an election affects your trust. Lots of people have mined this territory, including a couple of professors of mine in grad school, but I'm taking a different twist that, as far as I can tell, no one has explored yet. More when I get the blasted thing actually finished, but basically I'm looking at winners and losers and whether or not you expected to win (but lost) and how that may lead to even less trust. And there's media stuff there too. Sigh ... if I finish grading, maybe I can get back to it.
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