Obama hits mid-terms campaign trail

[Carmen813]

Well he did hold some "muslim entrepreneurship" summit so we know what his priorities are.

I know nothing about this, but if he did so, why is this a problem? Are you no longer allowed to be a Muslim businessman in America?

 

[spidey07]

Well this could be seen as a good thing as when he campaigns for a candidate, that candidate normally loses. It's almost like the country flat out rejects Obama and lending his flapping mouth does more harm than good to ones campaign.

Candidates to Obama - Stay away, please!

 

[Carmen813]

Thats why their polls are very accurate in the big elections, right?

Doesn't change the fact that lately their methodology has been very circumspect.

Example: http://www.rasmussenreports.com/pub...oplines_arizona_and_immigration_april_27_2010

Read the actual questions.
Question 2.

2* Do you favor or oppose the new immigration law signed by the Governor last week?

64% Favor
30% Oppose
6% Not sure

Okay, seems easy enough...64% of people favor the new law. On to question 3.

"Do you favor or oppose legislation that authorizes local police to stop and verify the immigration status of anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant? "

55% Favor
36% Oppose
9% Not sure"

Wait a minute, 64% of respondents just said they favored the law that basically does what this question asks. Why are these numbers so different?

Notice how the first question gives no specifics about the law that was just passed? It shows that people don't actually know what this new law has done, but many of them are supporting it. When they start to learn specifics, support goes down by nearly 10% and the amount opposed jumps 6%. In addition, the amount of people "unsure" goes up a bit.

Next question in the poll.

"4* How concerned are you that efforts to identify and deport illegal immigrants will also end up violating the civil rights of some U.S. citizens?"

30% Very concerned
20% Somewhat concerned
31% Not very concerned
18% Not at all concerned
1% Not sure"

Here we see a near even 50/50 split in approval between people worrying about "efforts" to deport illegal immigrants harming the rights of U.S. citizens. This question actually gives you more information about peoples opinions about the new Arizona law, and it's basically a dead even split. 50% are at least somewhat worried the law went to far and will hurt legal citizens, 50% at least somewhat believe that this won't happen.

Yes what is the headline on Rasmussan's PR release?

This in a nutshell is the problem with polling in today's environment. People are responding, often out of emotion, instead of intellectually considering the pros/cons of a bill. I don't care what your ideology is, the bottom line is, in this environment, don't trust a poll unless you do the background research.