(Bush) How Am I Doing?

Off Topic Politics & World Issues
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[quote]thunderbolt23 wrote:
Kuz,

while 13% of the respondents reported that they were unemployed (the current unemployment rate is about 5%-6%)

Heh. Might as well take a poll in Europe if that is going to be your demographic.

31% said they were between the ages of 18-34 (this was the only age group that Sen. John Kerry carried in the last presidential election, and it actually voted in a much smaller percentage than that represented in this poll).

Well then. Quite a sample.

I am not here to pretend that Bush isn’t suffering, and the GOP generally. My own personal approval rating of both has gone down.

But if you are going to run a poll, how about running one that gets a sample that can be indicative of the populace as a whole, rather than overweight certain demographic segments?

And that is one reason I hate polls - you can’t get the proportions right, no matter what your question(s). Most polls are conducted in major cities, but that isn’t indicative of all registered voters.

Bush and the GOP have plenty of work to do, but watching the polls ain’t part of it.[/quote]

I wasn’t totally sure how to take your post, but my point was that polls can (obviously) be skewed and are only as good as the sample from which they are taken. I didn’t put that link up to say everything was rosy in America, but that using polls as a rationale is always a dicey proposition.

So in other words, we are in violent agreement.

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I think the combination of gas prices and the focus on oil company profits is hurting him worse than anything else – singly or in the aggregate.

Unfortunately, while that does say a whole lot about the level of economic ignorance in this country (vis a vis assigning blame for gas prices), it doesn’t help the President or those deemed to be “in charge” at the moment - namely, the Republicans in Congress.

Clinton was only partially right when he said “It’s the economy, stupid.” More appropriately, “It’s the perception of the economy, stupid - and especially the perception of any negative change to cash flow.”

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[quote]Kuz wrote:

I wasn’t totally sure how to take your post, but my point was that polls can (obviously) be skewed and are only as good as the sample from which they are taken. I didn’t put that link up to say everything was rosy in America, but that using polls as a rationale is always a dicey proposition.

So in other words, we are in violent agreement.[/quote]

Sorry if you misunderstood me - I agree with your point wholeheartedly.

I just threw the disclaimer about Bush not doing well, etc. in there to pre-empt the predictable claims that my dismissal of the polling numbers was because I think all is perfect and refuse to see any error in Bush’s ways when it was the weakness of polling in general I, too, was focusing on.

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