Deport all illegals 17%
Wealth distribution not a problem 17%
Get government out of student loan business 3%
Buy a gun without an extensive background check 9%
What percent of Americans do you think would be in this small minority on all five of these issues?
For the first time in a while, a majority of Americans say that they support 2A, but of that group, the vast majority want certain limits on those 2A rights.
People say they want conservative policies, but once they are implemented and the price of those policies comes along (such as less spending to match lower taxes) they whimp out.
A friend's wife got her PhD in mathematics and wrote her thesis on some of the aspects of the science of polling. She basically laughs off most of the weekly/daily political polls as to their real value.
It takes time to create a non-biased scientific poll and a lot of effort is needed to screen out built in biases. Every question needs several internal control questions for simple validation...simply the same question needs to be asked in completely different manner and structure.
Thus, it takes time to create a poll.
The next important variable is the survey population. Numbers, race, backgrounds, ideology and other factors need to be ascertained. Again, the questions asked need to have internal controls. Asking a person, for example, if he is a Democrat, Republican or Independent leaves the respondent to self-identify based upon their own definition. And when it comes to independent, the variables for determination vary widely.
Thus, a simple proper survey will consist of more than just a couple of questions and another variable will enter the polling process--the amount of time necessary to complete the survey. Too long, and people will not take the survey as if it were shorter. Thus, not only must a survey have internal controls, but also must be balanced for amount of time needed to gather the data.
I won't go into her comments about the statistical tests needed to be done on the data, but she said that few of the many polls really do the proper statistical verifications. She said that political polls were of general lower quality than those used by companies when it comes to marketing and sales.
Her biggest laugh was at the politicians and journalists who rely so much on their polling data...most of them have trouble with basic arithmetic let alone statistics. She cited the politics of global warming as a prime example.
I love polls. It seems because I am willing to take the time to answer questions, I seem to get called quite often. I find them amusing and entertaining. Most of the time, I can easily determine what their poll's objective is.
I also lie.
I wonder if there are others like me that goof on pollsters and just tell them what they want to hear.
The only real problem I have had when it comes to participating in polls occurred when I told the young lady who called that I really really liked Hillary. Now I keep getting calls for money. Screwed myself with that one.
Take the case on the polls recently on the Governor's race in Ky. Jack Conway was allegedly ahead in the race by 5 pts. Matt Bevin won by a near landslide.
In 2012 Carl Rove who one might assume has a clue said on the very night of the Presidential elections that Romney would definitely win Virginia. Well we all know how that turned out.
did away with small business income taxes - phasing out personal income taxes
"In the past year (2011), three state agencies have been abolished and 2,050 jobs have been cut. Funding for schools, social services and the arts have been slashed. The new Republican governor rejected a $31.5 million federal grant for a new health-insurance exchange because he opposes President Obama’s health-care law. And that’s just the small stuff.
A new “Office of the Repealer” has been created to reduce the number of laws and regulations, and the Repealer is canvassing the state for more cut suggestions."
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback signed a bill that will allow residents to stroll around with concealed guns without any permit or any training in how to use the weapons.
Brownback defied even the GOP-led state legislature in cutting funding for the arts, which left Kansas as the only state without a state-funded arts commission. And his plan to shutter nine social service offices around the state created a firestorm and sent several localities scrambling for their checkbooks to keep the offices open.
Brownback has shown little patience with anyone who might stand in the way of the revolution. Nine moderate Republicans in the state Senate who crossed Brownback face primary challengers in 2012.
My real point is that the majority of people are not as conservative as many on here claim to be, so we should not be surprised when the people we elect cater to the majority of voters instead of some mythical "conservative base."
Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."
