Why is listening to poll numbers a bad thing?

[Bronco69]

Just a random thought I had this morning and I figured the good people at DU could give me an answer.

Why is bush* so proud of the fact (or at least he says he is) that he doesn't go by poll numbers. Also, I remember when rush and the other right wing loons used to accuse President Clinton of sticking his finger in the air to see which way the political wind was blowing before he made a decision.

I guess my question is that if the U.S. is supposed to be a country of the people, by the people, and for the people, what's wrong with taking a poll to find out what the majority of the people want and turn the country in that direction? Am I just not getting it? It just seems to me that watching poll numbers would be a good thing.

[KaliTracy]

1. sure, it's a good thing if they favor you -- he's been "off" in the polls

even before the election -- and even after the election -- so in order to keep his "mandate" he has to ignore them and say "the people elected me, the polls don't matter" when -- it comes down to it, he probably wasn't really elected....



poll taken first week or so after the election....

[iamjoy]

2. I Wondered The Same Thing

I guess some people think leaders sometimes need to make tough decisions and we elect people to lead.

Well I always thought these elected officials work for US and should do what WE want. Of course, too many of our elected officials now work for corporations and other special interests and do what THEY want.

[caty]

3. bush does'nt care

what the majority of the people think or want. He just cares about the wants of his rich friends.

[Shoeempress]

5. And the extreme religious right who can be counted on to show and vote

against their financial interests.

[caty]

6. I don't really think bush cares

about what the religious right wants, he just uses them when he needs them. It's all about $$$$---not God.:evilgrin:

[Shoeempress]

11. Of course the christianists are pawns, but he plays to them to keep them

in line. i.e. Schiavo.

[FreedomAngel82]

15. Exactly

He says and does a few things here and there for them. Like the anti-abortion rally they had shortly after he was "selected" and then the Terri Schavio ordeal. :eyes: He really could give a damn about what they want. That's why they'll never do Roe V Wade.

[FloridaPat]

4. He's all BS. They do look at the poll numbers. When things are

going against them, the come up with ways to change peoples minds. Like all those terror alerts when * approval rating drop. Or all those alQaeda people who are arrested when they drop. Or which states they have to change the electon results to get * elected there.

They watch them very very closerly. Just remember - you can tell when * is lying - his lips are moving. And that isn't anywhere near a joke. Truer words were never spoken about an invididual.

[ck4829]

7. Because it is the Voice of the People

RW'ers never want to acknowledge the Voice and the Will of the People.

[KharmaTrain]

8. Consider The Source

From one whose worked with research, I always question why it was done and who was doing it. Then what are they trying to either learn or prove from it. Get these answers and then reading polls make some sense.

Just like the "news", much of today's polling is sensationalistic junk. Much is skewed to get a result or to provide fodder for some article or feature they're working on. This is polls and research skewed to prove their point. A great example are the evening questions on Lou Dobbs. He want a certain response from the polls and sets up the questions to get those results. This is a blatant example, others are far more subtle, but just as biased.

I always look at the question...how it's worded...then, if possible, to hear how the questioner is asking it. Also how the question is placed in the survey. A common trick is to run three or four feel-good questions then hit you with a skewed on where you do an almost Pavlovian response. Or it's put towards the end of the survey...where fatigue sets in and many aren't paying as close attention.

Also, see, if possible, the sample number...how many people were surveyed and if it's possible to get a breakdown of those people...their locations, ages, sexes, races, incomes and so on. The more data you get, the better indication who this survey is being targeted for (again to prove).

Lastly, I had a professor that would always remind us that any research or survey is a snapshot of what was, not of what is. It's old the moment you see it and gets a lot older when you start hashing the numbers. It works best when it helps in making a future decision, it's worst when its used to make one.

[JHB]

9. The image they like to conjur...

...is that of the Real Leader, making the Right But Unpopular Decision (like FDR's Lend-Lease deal with England, though obviosly they obscure the connection to any Democratic cases).

The image is that "not following polls" means you're making decisions based on firm principles, not on the fashions of the moment. It may not be a true image, but it's the one they're trying to project.

[kenny blankenship]

10. It's a bad thing because

a leader is supposed to lead. A leader doesn't shy off of what he wants to do and where he wants to go because of a measure of PRESENT opinion, a leader pushes for what he wants and goes where he wants to take us, and a leader finds ways TO MOLD FUTURE OPINION. So he doesn't worry about polls. He does what it takes to move the country and when it's moved, the polls that would've warned him off of his course of action, will then agree with what he's done and defend it. (or they won't in which case he's really screwed).

The Bush Administration is a perfect example. If he ruled by poll numbers or was ruled by poll numbers, he'd be very moderate and Clinton like. He doesn't want to be Clinton and he doesn't want America to be moderate. He's a thousand times more radical than Clinton ever was in his life and he wants to make America into a far different place than the way he found it.

And guess what, the bastard is succeeding.

[dansolo]

12. He wants to project the image of being decisive

It is the whole moral superiority deal. His decisions are unassailable, so if people got the impression that he listened to polls, then he will be viewed as being 1) indecisive, and 2) not fully in control.

[K-W]

13. Because polls arent valid measures of public opinion.

To govern based on the way a sample of people answer certain specifically worded questions on the phone does not jive with any reasonable concept of governence I have ever heard of.

"There are lies, damn lies, and statistics."

[FreedomAngel82]

14. I guess it's a macho thing

I don't get it either. :shrug: To me poll numbers is a way to hear the public and if you're doing what they like. Bush is obviously not a president and obviously there for his buddies and getting them rich. He only seems to care about people to be voted in. A good president would care about poll numbers and what the public thinks. It's really screwed up, isn't it? :shrug: