Edward Snowden Poll Finds More Americans Now Think He Did The Wrong Thing

[Tx4obama]

Edward Snowden Poll Finds More Americans Now Think He Did The Wrong Thing

More Americans now think Edward Snowden did the wrong thing in releasing classified documents about U.S. surveillance programs, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll.

According to the new poll, 38 percent of Americans think that Snowden, a former contractor for the National Security Agency, did the wrong thing, while 33 percent said he did the right thing. Still, 29 percent of Americans remain unsure about Snowden's actions.

Another HuffPost/YouGov poll conducted just after Snowden revealed his identity publicly found that 38 percent said Snowden did the right thing and only 35 percent said he did the wrong thing.

Much of the drop in support for Snowden's actions since the earlier poll appears to have taken place among Republicans, who were divided, 37 percent to 37 percent, on whether Snowden did the right thing in the previous poll, but in the latest poll said by a 44 percent to 29 percent margin that he did the wrong thing.

In the new poll, Democrats said that Snowden did the wrong thing by a 46 percent to 26 percent margin, while independents said that he did the right thing by a 40 percent to 28 percent margin. Neither of those margins were significantly changed from the previous poll.

-snip-

Full article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/05/edward-snowden-poll_n_3542931.html

[MNBrewer]

1. your ProPaganda seems to be working, then

[Tx4obama]

6. Who da thunk that a middle-aged woman in Texas sitting on her patio typing on computer...

... could weld so my power to influence the whole populace of the United States of America - LOL

I think most would agree that your comment is quite silly.

[CakeGrrl]

9. Right?

This place gets a little crazier over this issue by the day.

It can't POSSIBLY be that national leaders can conclude that someone who steals U.S. data and peddles it to foreign countries is a bad bet to harbor for asylum...no, the Obama Evil Empire must have threatened them.

It can't POSSIBLY be that the more people see or hear about Snowden, the more questionable his motives and story become as they THINK FOR THEMSELVES...no, you must have reached out and poisoned their minds against him.

Truly...

[RobertEarl]

11. Eh?

She has tried, right? Like 984 posts already.

[rso]

41. snowden

Agree with you 100 %. Snowden is no hero. He is a self-serving, narcissistic individual who wants to attain notoriety and enjoy life on the dole of some US-hating nation. We are far from perfect, but we are infinitely freer than China, Russia or even Venezuela. I am a progressive liberal, but not an anarchist. Hopefully, Snowden will soon have to face a US Court.

[Cali_Democrat]

83. Hahahahhahaha

[Kolesar]

7. yeah, Tx4Obama influenced the 100 people who read about this story on DU

And that swung the poll

[Number23]

54. Thread win.

[Cha]

17. you poor thing.. what an ignorant post.

[bowens43]

2. stupidity has never been lacking in the American people......

[Cha]

19. Snowden's a good example of that.

[graham4anything]

3. Thank you Tx4O for posting this!

[markiv]

4. 'this poll was conducted by randomly listening in on phone conversations'

where the computer picked up the keyword 'Snowden'

so you know the poll's honest, because people didnt even know they were participating

[RobertEarl]

13. DUZY!

Never before in the history, or herstory, of man kind, or womankind
has there existed such a powerful unseen force. Unless you believe in God, that is. In which case the NSA is in 2nd place.

[Bluenorthwest]

15. Great post.

nt

[frylock]

21. winning

[Purveyor]

26. +1000 {{{chuckle}}} eom

[Th1onein]

28. DUzy!

[cherokeeprogressive]

39. Well THAT was a quick thread... DUZY and Thread Winner. n/t

[HardTimes99]

56. Thread winner! I salute you! - nt

[MannyGoldstein]

5. Proof positive that our government is not spying on all Americans.

Got it.

[tridim]

78. The Government is only spying on you Manny.

It's all about you.

[Scurrilous]

8. Thanks.

K & R

[grasswire]

10. never heard of youguv nt

[BenzoDia]

27. iirc, they did some decent polling in the last presidential election with unconventional methods

[L0oniX]

12. ...and they also believed there were WMD's in Iraq.

[pnwmom]

14. I think he lost support when he changed from revealing internal US surveillance

to leaking details of our spying on other countries.

[Cha]

22. Exactly, as well he should have. Giving USA secrets to China and Russia to keep

his little tush safe.

[refrescanos]

25. wholeheartedly

Agreed :-D

[Cha]

31. In that case..

welcome to DU, refrescanos..

[refrescanos]

35. thnx

Thanks!

[pnwmom]

55. Welcome to DU, refrescanos! n/t

[refrescanos]

67. in reply

Thanks!

What is n/t?

[Tx4obama]

82. n/t = No Text in the body of the comment

eom = end of message

K&R = Kick and Recommended

Welcome to DU

[refrescanos]

86. Hi

And thanks for the info

[Comrade Grumpy]

38. Do you actually know that he did that? Gave our secrets to China and Russia?

Or are you just making shit up?

I've heard some of our spooks saying that of course he gave secrets to the Chinese and the Russians, but that's just opinion. Can you provide any more information?

[DisgustipatedinCA]

49. It's fun to watch you gnash your teeth

[Cha]

16. And, It was wrong wrong wrong on how he did.. absounding to China and

then leaking. Giving China secrets.. and then flying to Russia and giving Mother Russia USA secrets. So much that even Putin told him to stfu or he wouldn't be welcome there.

thanks Tx

[marions ghost]

85. Oh yeah sure...

hilarious.....

While being sought by the US on espionage charges, he decides to run around the world Like Santa giving out 'secrets"--and then China and Russia kick him out, since they're so happy with him. So where are his rewards, for those great secrets that the rest of the world got for free?

This sounds like a comedy script.

[DirkGently]

18. More Republicans, mostly.

"Much of the drop in support for Snowden's actions since the earlier poll appears to have taken among Republicans."

Republicans are with you on this!

[HardTimes99]

59. Dick Cheney and John Yoo are firmly on TX4Obama's side. That right there

brings the merit of the position into serious question. Anything those two bastards support should be given the utmost scrutiny, imho.

I suppose broken clocks can be right once or twice a day, but when one finds oneself agreeing with Cheney and Yoo (and disagreeing with heroes of bygone days like Daniel Ellsberg), one needs to take a good, long look in the mirror, imo. Gut-check time, I guess you could say.

[grasswire]

20. internet polls of self-selecting people are notoriously unreliable.

This is a poll of 1000 people who chose to register with yougov. They were winnowed out of a larger sample by demographics, but they are still self-selecting. And still on the internet.

Unreliable.

[1StrongBlackMan]

33. Except ...

when the findings reflect you opinions. Right?

[Gravitycollapse]

37. No. These are not scientific polls. They mean essentially nothing.

Internet polls have become somewhat of a fad. Especially from "news agencies" like CNN or Fox. But they carry almost no statistical significance because they are not truly random samples and I doubt the persons analyzing the data know much about statistics.

[phleshdef]

42. You are wrong.

The HuffPost/YouGov poll was conducted July 1-2 among 1,000 adults using a sample selected from YouGov's opt-in online panel to match the demographics and other characteristics of the adult U.S. population. Factors considered include age, race, gender, education, employment, income, marital status, number of children, voter registration, time and location of Internet access, interest in politics, religion and church attendance.

This isn't just random people answering a poll on a web page. Its 1000, discretely verified adults. The only real difference between this poll and a phone poll is they used the internet to collect the responses rather than a phone call.

[Gravitycollapse]

46. I stand corrected on this one.

[grasswire]

47. YOU are wrong.

The thousand people were picked from the larger group of Internet users who chose to register for yougov in order to express their opinions on polls.

Therefore, the thousand are not a random sample of the adult U.S. population. They are simply an approximate of a random sample of people who registered here.

Fail.

[1StrongBlackMan]

50. Shhh ...

You may WANT to be right ... But you are wrong with respect to what constitutes randomization and this survey outfit.

[grasswire]

51. are you telling me to shut up? nt

[1StrongBlackMan]

53. I'm trying not to ...

but on that subject, you are betraying your ignorance.

You might want to review this:

http://privacyscholar.org/cces/files/ansolabehere_schaffner_mode.pdf

It'll inform you regarding YouGov's methodology.

{Edited to provide evidence of your ignorance}

[1StrongBlackMan]

68. Perhaps ...

that was a bit harsh. But Grasswire, please understand my comment was born of frustration with what I see as a relatively new occurrence here at DU ... an anti-intellectualism that seems more suited for conservative places, where stating something with forceful confidence (even when wrong) serves as valid and reasoned argument.

We see it with the modern gop's "the female body has ways to shut that kind of thing down (reference pregnancies from rape)" and cold weather and snow proves global warming is a myth; but it was the rare case, here at DU.

So if I offended, I apologize.

[phleshdef]

80. Nope. I'm right. But please try again.

Yougov is a scientific poll with a scientific process behind it. Read up on it first, THEN go act all pious and shit.

[grasswire]

48. no, I'm pretty devoted to evidence, not opinion polling.

I think it's the Republicans who skew and sway as they see fit.

[1StrongBlackMan]

52. So what evidence ...

of American sentiment are you basing YOUR evidence on?

[HardTimes99]

60. Not being snarky, merely curious. Do you know why these polls are

inherently less reliable than traditional polls? Looking to add to my knowledge base but too lazy to do the gruntwork

[grasswire]

63. here is the sign-up info from yougov

A person volunteers to provide their opinions to yougov in return for cash prizes, movie tickets, etc.

A real poll solicits opinions from a random sample of citizens, not volunteers who earn prizes.

From the sign-up page:


.....Why Become a Panelist

Tell the world what you think about the latest issues dominating public debate, such as unemployment, the deficit, gun control, health care, gay marriage and bias in the media.
It's free to join and easy to sign up. You can use Facebook connect to register or fill out our short form.
You will get invited to surveys, and if you qualify and complete the surveys, you'll start racking up points and be eligible for some great prizes such as movie tickets, restaurant gift cards, and cash rewards.

Hardly scientific, despite any winnowing for demographics.

[cascadiance]

23. You could say also that MORE Americans are unsure or don't feel he did the right thing than...

... felt he did the right thing too!

[MjolnirTime]

24. that sucks for the fans.

[HardTimes99]

61. How's it feel to line up with Dick Cheney and John Yoo, sport? - nt

[stevenleser]

65. We could ask you the same thing about Ann Coulter, Rand Paul, etc. nt

[HardTimes99]

69. Please list the war crimes Ann Coulter and Rand Paul have

authorized, directed or otherwise committed. Thanks in advance.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

70. Now there's a spectacularly dumb line of argument...

Do you really want to let Dick Cheney and John Yoo dictate your positions?

If people who are wrong about other things want to agree with me about something, great. It doesn't bother me in the slightest.

[HardTimes99]

71. When admitted war criminals line up on one side of a debate, I know I'm usually

pretty well served by getting on the other side right away and staying there.

Are you saying that even war criminals sometimes get it right?

[Donald Ian Rankin]

72. I'm saying that even war criminals are right 99% of the time.

The range of things that people disagree about is tiny, compared to the range of opinions they have. Even war criminals can do arithmetic, know what colour the sun is, and thing that eating babies is wrong.

I'm also saying that argument ad hominem by proxy is even dumber than ordinary argument ad hominem. You might as well say that vegetarianism is immoral because of Hitler*.

*(Actually, Hitler wasn't a vegetarian, but for the sake of the argument please imagine that the popular urban myth is accurate - I'm sure you can fill in other good examples).

[HardTimes99]

73. It's just that 1% of the time when they're doing the war crimes that

causes the slight discomfort, eh?

I don't feel the slightest unease, knowing I'm on opposite sides of a debate from admitted torturers and war criminals.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

74. And nor should you.

I wouldn't feel the slightest unease if I found that I were on the same side of a debate as them, either (and I'm willing to bet that if you compile a complete list of all those people who agree with you about anything, you'll find a lot of people a lot worse than Cheney and Yoo).

[HardTimes99]

75. You're on record now for posterity as arguing that there are poeple "a lot

worse than Cheney and Yoo".

I think the two of them constitute the very bottom of the barrel (in contemporary America at least).

The people who agree with me are generally speaking a lot better than I, as I am nobody and nothing in the cosmic scheme of things. I will concede that I am better than Cheney and Yoo, thereby damning myself with vanishingly faint praise.

[JI7]

29. no surprise once people found out he was telling China about our spying on them

and still hasn't revealing anything new about Americans being spied on .

[sheshe2]

30. thank you tx!

[99Forever]

32. Frankly mam, I don't give a damn.

Stupid tops another poll.

So what?

(Best take a look around you, lady, the shit happening in your statehouse RIGHT NOW is the direct result of being spineless surrender monkeys.)

WAKE THE FUCK UP.

[Tx4obama]

36. I'm sure I know more about what's going on in the Texas House and Senate than most folks do

Have a nice day

[Comrade Grumpy]

34. Leser has explained to us that thinking this matters is an example of the Bandwagon Fallacy. n/t

[stevenleser]

66. Correct, I would support you on that part of it.

It should not matter one iota in terms of whether one is right or wrong. Large support does not affect that one way or the other.

What this shows we should observe is whether this has a correlation in terms of waning support for an examination of NSA Surveillance. If people think he did the wrong thing, they may no longer care to have that national conversation.

If that is the trend, what we may see is that all of this that Snowden did was for naught. The conversation is going to stop and things will go back to the way they were before because of the crappy way Snowden handled this.

[The Straight Story]

40. Polls show people are opposed to abortions after 20 weeks

Good thing we don't let polls make up our minds for us.

[Tx4obama]

43. Democratic Poll: Majority Of Texans Against Abortion Bill

Democratic Poll: Majority Of Texans Against Abortion Bill

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023179815

[Cha]

44. Nobody's trying to change your mind, Straight Story.. Tx

posted that more people now thought what Snowden did was wrong.

I say good on them.

[The Straight Story]

45. Don't mind having my mind changed. Just not going to do it based on polls. (nt)

[Art_from_Ark]

62. I let Internet polls do my thinking for me

Like, if an Internet poll says "60% of Americans think the world is flat", I think, "Wow, I guess it is flat." But then someone here says "DU this poll!!!" and the numbers suddenly reverse themselves, I think "Whew, it is round after all!"

I learned my lesson the hard way. Back in 2001, when "90% of Americans supported George bu$h and his war", I was among the 10% who didn't support it. It was pretty lonely being in such a minority, watching that 90% Bandwagon passing by. So now, I've decided I always want to be in the majority in a poll, no matter what.














*And yes, this post is tongue-in-cheek

[nyquil_man]

64. Yes. Did you know that 56% of Americans don't mind having their minds changed

but only 32% do it based on polls?

[Major Hogwash]

57. Most Rand Paul supporters think Snowden is a lying thief!! And therefore, he is a good candidate . .

. . for Paul to pick as his running mate in 2016!



Fuck Rand Paul and the stick horse he rode in on!!

[TheMadMonk]

58. Now do it again with a sample representative of the SIX AND THREE QUARTER BILLION....

...of us who aren't 'merkins. And yes that is a somewhat deliberate slight.

[kiva]

76. At one time or another a majority of Americans

thought it was fine that blacks, gays, and women did not have equal rights. A majority of Americans loved Eisenhower, who loosed the CIA in Guatemala and Iran - a legacy that still haunts us. A majority of Americans elected Ronald Reagan, the architect of shifting wealth to the 1%. A majority of Americans elected Bush jr for a second term (the first was stolen).

The argument that "a majority of Americans" supports anything does not argue that the statement is accurate, moral, or legal.

[zappaman]

79. Kick.

The DU bubble is sometimes hard to get through.

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

84. Poll more American's know where homer live than Paul Revere

Edward Snowden is a modern day Paul Revere with a thumb drive full of news that Tyranny is coming!

[Scurrilous]

87. Boink.

[Cha]

88. Boinkity Boink Boink..