G.O.P. Nightmare Charts

[Scuba]

From the NY Times Charles M. Blow

I love this moment in the political season because the polls pour in and invariably something tucked in among the questions catches my eye but doesn’t grab the headlines. I have selected two that get us away from the presidential race, both of which highlight just how much trouble the Republican brand continues to find itself in despite the party’s many legislative and statehouse victories in 2010. Public sentiment is slowly drifting away from the Republicans in a way that must be giving the party’s long-range strategists sleepless nights.

The first question comes from the NBC News/Wall Street Journal Survey released on Tuesday (it’s question number 27). It read:

When it comes to (READ ITEM), which party do you feel is most attuned and sensitive to issues that affect this group.
Here is the list of items the poll-takers read and the way people answered:


[IMG][/IMG]


The chart illustrates just how narrow Republican support is. Respondents viewed Republicans as more sensitive to religious conservatives, people in the military and small business owners. That’s not enough for a winning coalition. For everyone else — including the middle class, young adults and Hispanics — Democrats won out. Democrats even scored higher than Republicans among some groups that conventional wisdom associates with supporting Republicans, like retirees and stay-at-home moms. (I wish that the pollsters had also asked about men and racial groups, but unfortunately they did not.)

More at the link: http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/23/g-o-p-nightmare-charts/?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120524

[CanonRay]

1. Then how the hell do the polls have this race neck and neck

It should be about a 10-15 point spread for Obama, or more. Something is fucked somewhere.

[mucifer]

2. they get their side to vote. We have lots of people who stay home.

[BadgerKid]

3. If only there could be a voting day holiday. n/t

[Bandit]

16. Or like Oregon, which has one of the highest "turn-out" rates, "Vote by mail"

You don't need to ever worry about finding a parking spot or running into that one person you have been avoiding or standing in a line or anything. You decide at your kitchen table and then just let the mailman take your ballot. It Works Wonderfully in Oregon and I am sure it would work just as well in every other state....

[shawn703]

6. Because some people are convinced to vote against their own best-interests.

Even though they know the Democrats will look out for them, Faux News and the talk radio gasbags tell them they need to look out for the oppressed rich people - since they really believe that bullshit that if the rich do well it will "trickle down" to them.

[SoutherDem]

12. People also believe...

One day they will be rich.

Also, I know many who will vote Republican, even if it is not in their best interest, just on the religious conservative issues.

This chart simply states which would fair better with Democrats/Republicans, not the number of people voting for each.

However, the chart does make one question the logic of the electorate.

[Odin2005]

13. Because the polls are BS.

The pollsters manipulate who qualifies as a "likely voter" to favor the Pukes

[SoCalDem]

4. 50 miles wide (favorable media coverage) & 1/8th inch deep (reality)

[bullwinkle428]

5. K&R. Won't stop some bloviating mouthpieces screaming "THIS IS A CENTER-RIGHT COUNTRY!!1!", though.

[surrealAmerican]

7. This is a misleading chart.

The people surveyed were responding to what they thought other people (in groups that they themselves may not belong to) would want.


The only bit of useful information in the chart is the "you and your family" line. It's optimistic, but not nearly as much so as the misleading information it's presented with.

[drmeow]

10. Not necessarily

they responded to what they thought affected or had an impact on other people (in groups they may not belong to). That is not the same as what those people want. If the question for each category was "Which party do you think [category] thinks is most attuned to their needs" then yes, the results presented would be misleading (although still not wants).

Now, the interpretation that sentiment is drifting away from the Republican party is an assertion that requires additional data to back up and is a bit of a leap of faith. The assertion is probably made based on the cultural understanding that except for religious conservatives, Hispanics or Latinos, and Gays and Lesbians, all the categories asked about are groups which "most" Americans support. But without data supporting that, the conclusion is only based on cultural knowledge not on data.

[jwirr]

8. Get out the VOTERS.

[Scurrilous]

9. K & R

[WillyT]

11. HUGE K & R !!!

:kick:

[n2doc]

14. Yet another reason to reduce the size of the military

Fewer soldiers, fewer repubs. (assuming that it is the military 'experience' and exposure to propaganda that causes the repub bias, not self selection)

[ieoeja]

15. As a small business owner, let me point out ...

... that GOP policies benefit megacorps to the detriment of small businesses. So my fellow small business owners are morons.

Not exactly news. In 1980 Ronald Reagan promised the farmers that he was going to eliminate all farm subsidies. This promted them to vote for him in huge numbers. Because they were being paid to not grow crops in part for environmental reasons and also to keep prices artificially higher. The farmers reasoned that if their subsidies were eliminated then they would farm fencerow-to-fencerow getting more money out of the larger harvest.

Of course, there was no law forcing these farmers to take the subsidies. They could have farmed all their land and made that money while others were taking the subsidies. I know one farmer who did just that. He benefited greatly from the artificially high prices. And was screwed along with all the other farmers when that policy was ended.

When Republicans slash federal taxes and take away grants to state and local gov'ts, it forces the locals to raise taxes. This makes the local taxes more important than previously which puts them into competition with one another. So every state in the nation now is probably giving zero-tax deals to any megacorp that wants to relocate to their state. Individuals and small businesses then have to make up the lost revenue for not taxing the megacorp.

When (sadly) both parties work to keep overseas wages down (see US policy vis-a-vis Venezuela) this benefits the megacorp which can now use cheap labor overseas for less than the small business owner has to pay for local labor. This makes the small business less competitive with the megacorp.

There are numerous ways in which Rightist policy damages small business. But this is too complex for the average small business owner. Most small business owners I've met are hardworking, but not particularly smart.

[underpants]

17. I was going to post this --THIS is very telling

as telling as the Nutting graph for two reasons:
1. The Republicans are completely out of touch
2. It is evidence of the news bubble that we live in in this country. Fox News sets the agenda (and flat out makes stuff up) and the rest of the media follows suit.