50% of Americans must be idiots

[mudesi]

Because no matter whether it's Obama or Clinton up against McCain, polls are consistently showing that about 50% of America supports McCain at this point.

Can that change in November? Of course. But why does it have to? Why in the world is every other person willing to support John McCain right now? What does it take to wake people up to the sheer stupidity of it?

In 2000, (almost) half of America voted for George W. Bush. OK, nobody could've predicted how bad he would be. (No matter that the intelligent ones among us saw it coming). In 2004, half of America supported George W. Bush again after 4 years of destruction. No excuse for that one, people.

Now, after 8 years of this disaster, once again half of America seems to prove that it deserves what it gets.

[TTUBatfan2008]

1. It's a conservative country...

that's all there is to it.

[NRaleighLiberal]

4. I don't buy that at all. I think it is a disconnected, lazy, TV addicted country

that has no clue how to vote in its best interest. It is also a terrified country, an easily manipulated country....I could go on and on...

[TTUBatfan2008]

7. Well yes, that's part of it...

but I think all of those things are pretty standard traits in a majority of conservative voters. The so-called "silent majority." The fact of the matter is, if this country weren't so apathetic, the Dems would win pretty much every election. But people are apathetic not only in voting itself, but in thinking for themselves to begin with.

[NRaleighLiberal]

9. Bingo! Well said....thinking for ones self..."that's hard werk"...!!

[redqueen]

11. Exactly.

Thinking takes too much effort.

Infantilized, easy to manipulate. *sigh*

[hfojvt]

43. I'm not sure I buy that

I think there are lots of ignorant people who are very cocksure about their opinions, and no amount of facts can sway them. There are also lots of amazingly informed people. The country is probably apathetic because of a "you can't fight city hall" and "all politicians are dishonest opportunists" philosophies that rule the day. They may have experienced some futility in trying to change things and have adopted the serenity prayer - they "accept the things they cannot change". Enough mud is thrown in the average campaign for a majority of voters to be kinda cynical about everybody running so why should they want to make a choice between a lesser of two (or more) evils?

[FatDave]

53. Or as lynyrd_skynyrd put it...

A 50% stupid country. In my kinder moments I say "oh, they're just overly religious" or "they're just a little racist" or "they can't help it if they're rednecks", but it really does just come down to stupid.

I mean, consider the average IQ. Now while an average is not a median, I'm going to guess that in a sample as large as the U.S. population, it's going to be close to 50% at or below average.

But on the bright side, 50% of Americans are smart, and honestly, the thought that one out of two people I meet might actually have some brains seems pretty good to me.

[intheflow]

63. You don't have to be tv-addicted to be mislead.

The fact that the airwaves and newspapers are controlled by very few media giants means that the truth just isn't getting to people. I'm specifically thinking of folks like my folks who live in a rural, conservative part of Michigan. They aren't web-savvy, their local newspaper prints little about what's happening in the country and the world outside their little community, and their cable network only has Fox, not even MSNBC. When millions of people around the world and across the US protested the impending Iraq invasion in 2003, my mother hadn't heard a word about it until I mentioned it to her a few years later. My step-father swears by Fox, since everything he sees there is echoed in their local newspaper. :grr:

[MidwestTransplant]

12. People don't know McCain yet. All they know is war hero. If he is only at 50%

and that's all they know, there is no place to go but down.

[Ilithiad]

41. conservative

YOu got the nail on the head....50 % of the country votes republican because they are always chanting lower taxes and to the uneducated all they see is more money in their pocket which isn't really there but in corporations pockets and in my life 8 years of clinton- higher taxes and 8 years of bush-lower taxes I have not seen any difference in the taxes I pay.

[high density]

55. "conservative" in the 2008 definition of the word

As in tax cut loving war mongering Christians who are worried about social issues that don't even affect them... That's about it.

[roguevalley]

64. no. i believe its because no one knows him yet and what he stands

for. when the general election begins, they will see and he's toast.

[NRaleighLiberal]

2. Well, 50% of those that actually get off of their fat asses and vote. So the idiot level is much

much higher, in reality!

[BumRushDaShow]

3. Actually, it's 50% of those polled...

They miss a whole lot of people when they poll. I truly think America has woken up. They are a bit embarrassed to say it publicly but the results of the 2006 rout in Congress should give us a clue.

[Ilithiad]

37. Polls

Polls are worthless because it is a limited number of people...For all we know Obama could be ahead of clinton by 20 points or behind her 20 points in PA...the polls that matter are the primaries and caucuses.

[hfojvt]

44. Polls play averages.

Suppose you have a very large bag containing 100 million marbles, some of them are blue and some of them are red. How do you find out how many there are? By counting of course, except that if it takes you 1/2 of a second to count each marble it's going to take you 231 hours, or almost 6 weeks of a 40 hour workweek. However, if you reach into the bag, at random, and pull out 1,000 marbles, the odds are very, very, very good that those 1,000 marbles will have the same percentage of blue and red as the whole bag does.

You might say that if the bag contains 30 million blue and 70 million red that there is a chance that you could pull out 1,000 red marbles and think the whole bag is red. But stop and figure the odds of that. The odds of one red is 70%. The odds of two red is 49% (.7 x .7). The odds of three red is 34.3% and the odds of 10 of 10 being red is 2.8%. The odds of 100 of 100 being red are 3.23 E-16. Or .0000000000000323%.

Those are not very good odds.

Of course, there are other problems in real world polls, such as the sampling method (do you call people?, at what time?) or the phrasing of the questions, which can lead to various errors or biases. Plus, a percentage of the respondents is probably lying, and a pollster can lie about their results too.

But 'worthless' is probably not accurate.

[polichick]

5. I just heard something really depressing on Hardball...

That Americans never vote for the anti-war candidate ~ makes me sick to think that's true. Apparently a lot of Americans are warmongering assholes.

[TTUBatfan2008]

10. Shallow patriotism...

any time I see someone with one of those cheesy "support the troops" ribbons on their car, it makes me want to puke. The Republicans have destroyed veterans benefits, yet these idiots that support them go right along with the false messages of patriotism being spewed by Republicans politicians.

[polichick]

14. I feel the same way about those idiotic ribbons...

...and I haven't flown my flag since we went into Iraq like warmongering fuck-ups ~ I'll fly it on inauguration day!

[muffin1]

22. You must hate America

as much as Senator Obama does.:sarcasm: I love that everyone who calls him out on the flag pin is not wearing one either. The citizens of my country have become so frigging stupid - I just want to hang my head and cry.

[polichick]

23. I know what ya mean...

There have been so many times when I've felt heartsick over what has happened since 2000 ~ but FINALLY, with the emergence of Obama on the scene, I have hope that we can reach the critical mass necessary to make a quantum leap in thinking!

[muffin1]

25. Once again,

I have hope, too. Polichick, I just hope we're not crying the blues again in November. When I listen to Obama speak, my heart soars. However, I still have dire concerns that people are far too stupid to do the right (left) thing come election day. The poll numbers I see just blow my mind. We should be seeing something like: McCain: 1%, Obama 99%. Hopefully, these American Idol types will pull their heads out of their asses long enough to see that something IMPORTANT is happening.:D

[polichick]

26. I like the way you put that! :)

[muffin1]

28. Thanks, n/t

:hi:

[totodeinhere]

29. McCain's poll numbers used to be lower.

It seems that the longer this primary campaign goes on and our candidates keep bashing each other, the better McCain's numbers get. That's why I wish we could find a way to end the primary campaign now and start concentrating on McCain.

(Edit - This was meant as a reply to the OP. My mistake.)

[HughBeaumont]

32. Those ribbons mean "I support Republicans including the Cabal".

As long as the sheep are under the influence of the "Wasteussumayrabs" drug, things are fine and dandy in their American Idol world.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

13. That's why Obama doesn't portray himself as an anti-war candidate

He makes it clear that he opposes "dumb wars".

[polichick]

15. Good move - I could never be elected because those games drive me nuts...

...but I'm glad he knows how to play.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

16. Me neither.

I want to smack the crap out of people for being so stupid most of the time.

I'd never be a good politician.

[Ilithiad]

38. war candidate

That is because he have a long tradion of having war wining presidents which we have many and only 1 war losing presidents...Curent president not counted because current war is a quagmire.

[ClayZ]

39. I am hoping that was just two old men talking,

and the youth of America will show us that warmongering is OUT! I think I remember that happening in the early 70s.:hippie:

[TahitiNut]

40. Nixon: "Peace with honor" ... the antiwar Quaker

:shrug:

[hfojvt]

45. I don't believe that's true

"Vote for Wilson - he kept us out of War"

Wilson won in 1916 on that slogan while WWI was raging in Europe. In 1972, Nixon was promising to end the war in Vietnam too, so it was not McGovern's Dove versus Nixon's Hawk. Nixon probably would not have won as a hawk, so he had to pretend to be a dove.

[JimGinPA]

6. Because The Right Owns Most Of The M$M

:shrug:

[TomInTib]

8. That's right. Mark Twain nailed it.

"Hain't we got all the fools in town on our side? And ain't that a big enough majority in any town?"

And then there is my own personal favorite...

"The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right."

[bigwillq]

17. I don't pay much attention to the polls

BUT do people honestly think that this race isn't going to be as close as 2000 or 2004 whether it's Obama or Clinton? :shrug:


It's going to be close no matter who our nominee is.

[marlakay]

18. This is why my husband says he has given up on

the country.

[Jane Austin]

19. It's because they don't listen to the "news",

Don't read the paper, and they last time they heard, McCain was a maverick.

We need a little time to campaign against him and they'll revise their views of him.

[Willo]

20. This primary alone should make that no surprise.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

21. just a little gullible

look at all the loonies who supported Bush after 9/11?

[DerekJ]

24. Thank God I'm Canadian.

:p

[Jed Dilligan]

27. They remember him fighting against Bush at one point

We haven't hammered their reconciliation enough.

[ladjf]

30. I continue to believe that something is causing a decline in

American's IQ.

[gulliver]

31. They aren't stupid. They just hate us.

Much as I like to insult the losers who would give us four more years of Republican rule, I still realize one thing: they vote Republican against their better interests, because they don't want to give power to us. Our better universal ideas are sold poorly. People don't trust us. They don't see where they fit in our vision of the world. It's a power struggle as much as an issues comparison.

[newmajority]

33. It's the Corporate Whore Media

Either the polls themselves are bullshit, which is likely, or the Sheeple are believing the bullshit, which is also true. They certainly aren't hearing the truth about Grandpa McLoony on CNN or FAUX, and only two hours a night on MSNBC (Olbermann and Abrams)

[HughBeaumont]

34. Because of the AWESOME record Republicans had during their 20 years of occupation, THAT'S why!!!1!1!

* Worst terrorist attack on American soil, arguably with the Bewsh Administration's foreknowledge.
* Two failed wars that have cost 4000 American lives and over 800,000 Iraqi lives (which McClown voted for).
* Business allies with totalitarian nations and sheikdoms with human rights abuse records a mile long.
* S&L scandal (which McClown was part of), among many . . MANY others.
* 70% of the current National Debt tallied under a Bewsh or a Reagan.
* Trade Deficit at record levels.
* A joke of a Gulf War I, which we started and gave the green light to, contrary to popular belief.
* Iran/Contra.
* Funding Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden's terrorist organizations.
* The permanent installation of Supply Side Economics, a substantial disaster for anyone making less than $300,000 a year.
* The most dismal job creation records since the Great Depression.
* Intentional kneecapping of almost all social programs while increasing the Pentasewer's chunk to 51% of the Discretionary budget.
* Multiple Recessions (two in this administration alone, although no one in the media or government wants to admit it).
* Gladhanding of the wealthy and the corporations they run at the expense of everything else.
* Socialism of loss, privatization of profits.
* The shift of risk, via economic policy, from corporations to the workers.
* Out-of-control corporate welfare.
* Weakest dollar value since the 70s.
* Lowest approval numbers for any sitting president.
* Two election scandals, mostly swept under the rug and brushed off as "sour grapes by loony left conspiracy theorists".
* Bailouts of banks while giving the middle finger to Universal Health Care.

It's been proven time and time again that under Republican administrations as compared to Democratic ones:

* stock market returns are worse.
* personal spending goes down while wages in real dollars remain stagnant.
* the national debt rises substantially.
* more country-damaging scandal and illegal activity occurs.
* damaging and tax-wasting invasions so the Pentasewer and their cronies can get rich off of Joe Sixpack at the price of his soldier son.
* more religious right empowerment happens.
* more fear-induced governing occurs (terr' alerts, anyone?).
* income disparity grows.

REPUBLICANS.
Here's Hoping People NEVER Come to their Senses.
Otherwise, We'd Be In Deep Shit.

If America elects this rock-dumb asshole, we don't deserve change. We don't deserve prosperity. We deserve to be crumbled and ruined to a bankrupt pulp until we're nothing but South America North - a weak and impoverished peonage serving 2000 ultra-wealthy overlords.

[quakerboy]

35. Only 50%?

I mean, I don't rule out Obama or Clinton supporters as idiots. Its just not necessarily the foregone conclusion.

[hfojvt]

36. the media has spent 8 years though defining John McCain

He's supposedly not like Bush, even though he promises a continuation of Bush's policies. But he's Saint McCain. You can trust him, because he's a straight talker, and a maverick who stands up against lobbyists with his McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. He's a gen-u-wine war hero. Lots of people will support him based on this positive caricature just as they supported Bush based on the media caricature of Bush as a moderate conservative and a decent, likeable guy. The media still does not tie most of the bad news to Bush policies, so most people probably see him as just being unable to deal with disasters that are not his fault. Those same people will believe that McCain is more capable and will be able to "fix" things that Bush couldn't. It's certainly not a hard sell to say that McCain is more competent than Bush.

[Beacool]

42. McCain is perceived as a moderate by a vast number of people.

Remember that the conservatives detest him and decried his nomination.

[Thepricebreaker]

46. Bingo! SO many here at DU over look this... BIG TIME!

They are trying to make him look like Bush Term #3 and the conservatives hate him...

You cant link someone to Bush if his base hates McCain....

[shaniqua6392]

47. I think you may be right on that "idiot" theory.

Just look at politics and advertising. Whoever has the most money to put on political commercials will win? If you show someone a commercial enough times, you can actually sway them. WTF? When a candidate comes into an area where they want to influence the electorate, all they have to do is drop a big bag of cash onto advertising and they can increase their voter base. We are really stupid.

[Perry Logan]

48. "The Progressive Majority: Why a Conservative America is a Myth"

http://mediamatters.org/progmaj/report

For the past twenty years, The Pew has been tracking support of a government safety net for the poor. With remarkable stability -- though there was a small decline in the 1990s and a small increase in the new century -- it shows that people want a safety net. More than two-thirds (69 percent in 2007) believe the government "should care for those who can't care for themselves." They feel so strongly about it that more than half (54 percent) are willing to incur greater debt to get it done.

...

Furthermore, polling by the General Social Survey (GSS) reveals a strong desire for greater equity in America, and desire for the government to help achieve it. Americans certainly want to keep what they earn and expect greater work to yield greater rewards, but that's only the beginning. GSS polling since 1978 reveals a clear and steady preference for government action to achieve income equality. With the brief exception of 1994, the year of the Republican takeover of Congress, people have expressed a preference for government action to reduce income inequality. As the chart below indicates, the average difference over the study period was more than 14 percentage points.

[Vinca]

49. I don't get it either. There are a handful of wealthy people who make

out better during Republican regimes, but the vast majority of us are screwed. People must be morons. Of course these are the same folks who insist each and every embryo is a human and must be born, apparently so it can be sent off to war to die or denied healthcare and die. Idiots. You're right.

[Eurobabe]

50. Will just make it easier for me to stay where I am

If the stupid people elect McInsane. :hi:

[Florida22ndDistrict]

51. re: 50% of Americans must be idiots

There are a lot of reasons why republicans win elections.

1) Many people both Democrat and Republican vote the party line. Call it family tradition, indoctrinated, or closed minded but these people are afraid to split their ticket. They vote for a party not a politician or the policy they promise to pursue. They are so loyal to their party that they don't even read the proposals of the opposing side, let alone those of the third parties. Sometimes they don't even read the proposal from their own side.

2) America is a dog eat dog world, and we are a very busy society. Many of us find it hard to squeeze anything else into our schedules. For this reason many people do not take the time to properly inform themselves about the candidates. Ignorance leads to bad decision making.

3) In this fast pace world, many turn to MSM for quick information and sound bites on the candidates. Overall the MSM are rightward leaning to hard right on most issues. They have complete control over framing the debate in a way that best interests them and their advertisers. When it comes down to it, if you ask the right questions, it really doesn't matter what the candidates answer is. If Americans would start analyzing the news rather then listening to and accepting what they hear, we would all be better off. For example Russians don't believe anything they hear in the media, because they used to live under a propaganda peddling dictatorship. We on the other hand assume that the media is seeking out the truth and is free of government propaganda for some strange reason.

4) Bad candidate selection. We have a bad primary/caucus system that suppress the vote and as a result produces candidates that a lot of people do not care for. This translates into bad turnout in the general election. A single day, national primary preferably through mail in ballots that comes with an envelope with postage paid would help to remedy this problem (that is if people really want to fix it).

5) Social issues. Many people have die hard beliefs they think are being represented by one side or the other. They allow politicians to use these issues to divide and conquer the populous. People need to keep their personal beliefs to themselves. They need to vote on issues that effect their daily lives and do not infringe on the principles set out in the constitution. Everything else is an issue for your home or your religious institution.

[shayes51]

52. I already knew that.

[Prophet 451]

54. You only just noticed?

To start with, around a quarter of your country are fundementalist Christians. Now, I'm not a Christian but I don't have much of a problem with mainline Christianity or even the original version of fundementalism (which was often not far from socialism) but the modern version of fundementalist Christianity is now si intertwined and so much in symbios with extreme-right politics that it's essentially a religion in it's own right. It still worships Jesus but places Reagan on the same level. Sorry, I can't mince words here, the fusion of far-right politics and fundementalist Christianity is a cult. It worships Reagan and Bush, places Rush Limbaugh next to the Bible, it's a cult.

For the rest, there are several problems. Here's a few:

- Americans don't read. When surveys are done, the average American reads only 99 hours a year (not counting work). The average European reads about four times that per year. Which leads to the next point...

- Your media is incredibly conservative. I'm British but I watch American news occasionally and I read the electronic versions of several American daily newspapers and I'm always amazed that any American can say or hear the "liberal media" meme without either laughing or vomiting. Your media is racing toward the lowest common denominator, overwhelmingly and unashamedly nationalistic and literally everything is framed in terms of the American myth that teh US is the best nation in the world, always right and always fair.

- Class. The Republicans have shamelessly removed economic policy from the discussion and the Democrats (for reasons I will never understand) have allowed them to do so. Now, without economic policy, you're only left with social issues and the Republicans, having spent a great deal of time and money playing to the faith over facts crowd, the "common man". They've spent years shouting about "elites" which would seem to be a codeword for "anyone not dumber than dirt" and because the economic policies have been removed, they'll win that arguement.

- Education. You have a big class in America which is not just uneducated but actively hostile to people who are educated. There is a big agenda of anti-intellectualism and, while not all conservatives are stupid, stupid people do tend to be conservative. And those people actively hate to be reminded that some people are brighter than them, they call it elitism to believe (as I do) that the country should be run by the best and brightest, not dumb and dumber. They genuinely believe (and again, this is part of the American myth) that anyone can be president and believe that means that anyone should be president. It's the myth that there's no such thing as an expert, that everyone's opinion should be given equal weight. I'm not sure if this started with the Declaration that said "all men are created equal" and left aside the simple fact that they're not, some people are just stupid. I'm sorry, call me an elitist, I've been called worse but if you don't have an IQ above 75 and at least a basic understanding of the political system, you shouldn't be allowed to vote.

- TV. Americans watch the most TV of any country in the western world. Now, I'm not automatically anti-TV and it's true that the best of TV can approach true art but by and large, people aren't watching the best, they're watching American Idol and When Porn Star Midgets Attack During High-Speed Pursuits. They're watching shit that's almost designed to make you intellectually lazy. The brain is a muscle; if you don't excercise it, it gets flabby and the crap most people are watching doesn't make them think or read or get curious, it's the visual version of a Happy Meal: Vaguely entertaining but not very filling.

- Nationalism. Somehow, the Republicans have appropriated the flag and national pride as their exclusive property. In the rest of the world, Michelle Obama saying she'd never been proud of her nation before or Rev. Wright damning America wouldn't even raise an eyebrow but let them say it about America and all hell breaks loose. Nationalism has many definitions but one of them could well be "the notion that you should be inordinatly proud of your nation simply for existing". Americans have seemingly decided that patriotism isn't about serving your country or making it better but about shouting how much you love the country and authenticity which apparently is a codeword for being a shitkicker and Republicans have made a much better job of wrapping themselves in teh flag and "my country, right or wrong" and "love it or leave it" than Democrats have. And I'm not suggesting Democrats should do that, it's loathsome.

- Finally, revisionist history. The Republicans have made an art out of editing history. They've produced teh myth that Clinton was to blame for 9/11, that Reagan was a great leader (middling at best, to be honest) and so on and because the Republicans tend to be better connected to the corporations that control American media, they've been much better at getting their version of events into the collective mind. Combine that with the aforementioned anti-intellectualism and the sorry state of many American schools and you end up with a good portion of teh populace that will believe anything. Most Americans I talk to don't know the difference between Marxism, communism and socialism and actually believe that HRC's health proposal was socialist. Most Americans I talk to use "fascism" as a generic nasty word, not knowing that it's a specific system with specific features (which is why "Islamofascism" is a nonsense term). They've been taught one way, unrestrained capitalism, as teh American way, the only way and anything which contradicts that even slightly is therefore Anti-American and therefore bad.

So, there's a few ideas. Nothing has a single cause and there's probably a load more factors I've forgotten or not had time for and they're all muddled together anyway but there's a few to be going on with.

[Lou Queb]

60. Interesting read my feller english...

...but I would indeed call you somewhat an elitist. I have trouble with any dimeaning view of the general electorate. I believe that part of freedom as an ideal end is to accept the plurality of opinion as they are at any given time (that doesn't mean we shouldn't fight for better education and encourage people to seek further the truth) but somehow I view the idea that certain rights have to be set aside for a faction of somehow ''superior'' citizens kind of opressive. But anyway, I liked your post. ;-)

[Prophet 451]

61. Ah well

I have no problem being called an elitist. Of course, the ideal is to raise the eductaion of the populace to the point where they all fit in the elite category. I have a pretty low opinion of the populace but then I am also a perfectabilist so the electorate doesn't have to stay the way it is.

[Lou Queb]

62. I agree but I differ in that I think that the population isn't well..you know stupid or whatever

I think Im a democrat in the genuine sense meaning that the people is right, but a democraty run by a mislead and mad majority could be disastrous, It can opress minorities so that's why I think education is the tool by which the perfectability of a society could become attainable.

[Fox Mulder]

56. They are idiots.

Don't the dumbfucks in this country realize that McCain as president would be a lot worse than Dubya???

It just boggles my mind and makes me very angry.

[leftofthedial]

57. half of all Murkans

are below average

[Romulox]

58. I think "change" is starting to ring hollow. W Bush was a "change"

What are Obama's concrete plans for

a) trade and the economy
b) energy crisis
c) the war

EVERYTHING ELSE--his grandma, his pastor, race, gender, etc.--is secondary. Without a strong populist message on the economy or the war, we are left to wonder what Senator Obama has to offer beyond warm fuzzies?

[crankychatter]

59. not 50%...50% of those that vote which is 25%

which is closer, probably, to under 15%, factoring in children and non-citizens

they are under-informed

not necessarily "idiots"

where I live MSNBC can't be had at ANY price... neither can Comedy Central and we have to pay a bundle extra for CSPAN 1... 2 and 3 cannot be purchased either.

the exception is the dish, which some folks DO have... still, alternative media aside from the internet is 2nd and 3rd tier... most folks don't have it.