polling results

[winterbadger]

I was curious, so I checked to see what the latest polling results were for the presidential election.

November is still a long way away in political terms, but I'm disturbed that Kerry hasn't opened out a wider lead by now. Who are all of these people who think Bush is doing a good job? How is it possible for them to believe that?

What is going to happen if we have another election like the last one, where half the country votes one way, half the other, and we have the election decided by the margin of error, let alone a split election like the last, where the person that more citizens voted for doesn't get elected? How many times can that happen before the democratic system starts breaking down? I'm becoming less concerned about democracy working in Iraq and more about it working here. Even if the electorate is not bitterly divided, the politicians they have to choose from are very, very far apart.

Comments

[dwarfrage.livejournal.com]

*Shrug* He's won the war in Iraq, he's won the war in Afghanistan, and as much as we'd like to believe that everyone who believes X is an uncultured.

There's the morally conservative group, and the financially conservative group. Sure Bush ain't great shakes on the whole budget thing, but Kerry is going to be worse. Or at least tradition would have us believe.

And let's face the democratic party needs to do an abrupt diplomatic shift if it wants to get any sort of the national security vote, and for whatever reasons, self-inflicted or not, this is a major issue for a lot of people.

*Shrug* Are they really? In a world scheme we have a Centrist-Right, and a farther right as choices. We have interest groups, lobbying groups,and other features of single issue politics having taken over, we've got redistricting schemes to codify which districts are Republican, and which are Democrat, and thus no need to compromise.

I don't see any dawn coming, in fact I think what I see is a dusk of the current system and some fairly major overhauls upcoming.

[winterbadger]

*Shrug* He's won the war in Iraq, he's won the war in Afghanistan, and as much as we'd like to believe that everyone who believes X is an uncultured.

Well, he hasn't actually done either of these things, but I guess people who think that he's going a good job are going to be those who are, as Karey says, so poorly informed that they think these statements are true.

There's the morally conservative group, and the financially conservative group. Sure Bush ain't great shakes on the whole budget thing, but Kerry is going to be worse. Or at least tradition would have us believe.

And let's face the democratic party needs to do an abrupt diplomatic shift if it wants to get any sort of the national security vote, and for whatever reasons, self-inflicted or not, this is a major issue for a lot of people.

There was a good piece recently that someone pointed me to, wishI could remember where, that talked about how effective the Republicans are at selling both their image and the one they want to stick their opponents with. Of course, the Republicans are nowhere near any mroe fiscally responsible than the Democrats, and the last three Republican presidents and their accompanying congresses have increased federal spending, the federal deficit, and the national debt, but they *tell* people that Democrats are "tax and spend" and the little sheep bleat and believe them. Shrub has made this country and its citizens much *less* safe and has been a net damage to our national security, but all he has to do is get on TV and proclaim himself a "war president" and somehow that innoculates a vast portion of the population from the trouble of actually *thinking* about what he's telling them.

I don't see any dawn coming, in fact I think what I see is a dusk of the current system and some fairly major overhauls upcoming.

Where is the impetus for that coming from, though? That's what I don't see. People seem to be either content with the system or so apathetic that they drop out entirely. I see people with bad policies and a poor understanding of the world gettign another four years in the White House and at least another two years in Congress because large parts of the electorate are too busy to be bothered to actually read the news or too selfish to participate ("if I don't get *exactly* what I want in a candidate, I'm not going to vote!").

[dwarfrage.livejournal.com]

*Chuckle* I never meant to imply that he had done those things, merely that there was the appearance of such. And in politics, as always, it's been style over subtance.

Why do I see a dusk of politics coming out? I see more and more people, not being apathetic, but actually anathemetical to the current political system, at least among the 18-25 year olds, I see the disgust rising higher and higher, I see the distaste rising.

The people have always been sheep. Railing against that is fruitless and pointless. Change has always started with an intellectual elite that has manipulated and convinced the masses to agree with them. Ergo, my suggestion would be to accept that, and tell the democrats to get a better PR campaign, cause they are losing the media war, they are refusing to feed the beast, and speaking with a 100 small voices, instead of a single giant roar.

Geesh, when did I start ranting? Must be just getting back from lunch. :)

[winterbadger]

*Chuckle* I never meant to imply that he had done those things, merely that there was the appearance of such.

(nods) Yeah, I got that. And I agree that the people are always, by and large sheep. But they won't follow just *anyone*; there's some basic predisposition to listen to one message over another. It bothers me that so many people are so much more receptive to a conservative message than they were when I was growing up. And I realzie that a lot of younger people are disgusted with the current system, but I don't see them *doing* anythign about it. More often than not, the reaction seems to be "a plague on everyone; I'm just going to check out and do my own thing..."

[kathygnome.livejournal.com]

Who are all of these people who think Bush is doing a good job? How is it possible for them to believe that?

A very large number simply don't know what's going on. It's the talk radio generation. I hear people at work all the time who are very glad we went to war against Saddam Hussein since he destroyed the world trade center. They aren't even aware we're at war in Afghanistan and can't tell the difference between Osama and Saddam. One of my partner's coworkers turned off Bush's press conference because there were too many unpronouncable countries talked about. She's a big Bush supporter though.

There's also a smaller group of people who are simply so far to the right that they'll vote for anyone who's not one of the evil democrats.

[luscious-purple.livejournal.com]

One tiny possible ray of hope: Around this time in 1992, IIRC, Clinton was in third place in the polls. And look who won that November.

That said ... if this country has a pre-election terrorist attack like the one in Madrid, I fear that it won't result in the incumbent being voted out as in Spain; instead, it'll be another one of those 49-state "landslides" .... :-(

"I'm From Massachusetts -- Don't Blame Me"