What Republicans Believe

[bolson]

Maybe you've seen this other places by now, but here it is again, the short version, with my own special formatting.

Almost half of our governmental power is elected by people who disturbingly often hold idiotic views that should be obviously bad and wrong. How can we form a civilized society and govern ourselves under these conditions?

In January, 2010 about two thousand self identified Republicans answered thusly:

Should Barack Obama be impeached, or not?	Yes: 39%	Not sure: 29%	No: 32%
Do you believe Barack Obama was born in the United States, or not?	No: 36%	Not sure: 22%	Yes: 42%
Do you think Barack Obama is a socialist?	Yes: 63%	Not sure: 16%	No: 21%
Do you believe Barack Obama wants the terrorists to win?	Yes: 24%	Not sure: 33%	No: 43%
Do you believe ACORN stole the 2008 election?	Yes: 21%	Not sure: 55%	No: 24%
Do you believe Sarah Palin is more qualified to be President than Barack Obama?	Yes: 53%	Not sure: 33%	No: 14%
Do you believe Barack Obama is a racist who hates White people?	Yes: 31%	Not sure: 33%	No: 36%
Do you believe your state should secede from the United States?	Yes: 23%	Not sure: 19%	No: 58%
Should Congress make it easier for workers to form and join labor unions?	No: 68%	Not sure: 25%	Yes: 7%
Would you favor or oppose giving illegal immigrants now living in the United States the right to live here legally if they pay a fine and learn English?	Oppose: 59%	Not sure: 15%	Favor: 26%
Should openly gay men and women be allowed to serve in the military?	No: 55%	Not sure: 19%	Yes: 26%
Should same sex couples be allowed to marry?	No: 77%	Not sure: 16%	Yes: 7%
Should gay couples receive any state or federal benefits?	No: 68%	Not sure: 21%	Yes: 11%
Should openly gay men and women be allowed to teach in public schools?	No: 73%	Not sure: 19%	Yes: 8%
Should sex education be taught in the public schools?	No: 51%	Not sure: 7%	Yes: 42%
Should public school students be taught that the book of Genesis in the Bible explains how God created the world?	Yes: 77%	Not sure: 8%	No: 15%
Are marriages equal partnerships, or are men the leaders of their households?	Men: 13%	Not sure: 11%	Equal: 76%
Should contraceptive use be outlawed?	Yes: 31%	Not sure: 13%	No: 56%
Do you believe the birth control pill is abortion?	Yes: 34%	Not sure: 18%	No: 48%
Do you consider abortion to be murder?	Yes: 76%	Not sure: 16%	No: 8%
Do you support the death penalty?	Yes: 91%	Not sure: 5%	No: 4%
Should women work outside the home?	No: 4%	Not sure: 10%	Yes: 86%
Do you believe that the only way for an individual to go to heaven is though Jesus Christ, or can one make it to heaven through another faith?	Christ: 67%	Not sure: 18%	Other: 15%

I'll admit that there is some room for debate in some of these topics, particularly I support a pretty wide leeway in marriage dynamics, but most of these issues really just make Republicans look stupid.

If you are my friend and identify as Republican, please, either fix your party or leave it. Isn't this embarrassing?

DailyKos/Research 2000 poll, Jan 2010

Comments

[kdavoli.livejournal.com]

Can you talk a bit more about the formatting? What does bold mean?

[soong.livejournal.com]

'stands out' 'emphasis'
Sorry, nothing magical about it from a data point of view, just me trying to point out certain things.

[kdavoli.livejournal.com]

One thing that's interesting to me about these data is the high values in the "not sure" column.

For one question it's actually the majority response (the ACORN question), and for some others it's large enough to tip the scales away from the majority (should the respondents make up their minds).

I wonder what it would take to get them to be "sure"?

[nurrynur.livejournal.com]

Should openly gay men and women be allowed to teach in public schools? No: 73% Not sure: 19% Yes: 8%


*boggle*
*boggle*
what.the.fuck

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

They're interesting numbers but I'd like to see a similar poll done against Democratic voters, for comparison. I think the figures for sex education, same-sex marriage, immigration, the death penalty, Barack Obama and socialism, and abortion would also be pretty alarming.

A lot of this stuff is depressing not because it's what Republicans believe, but because it's what the American public believes, and while there may be more Republicans in that sample they're definitely not alone.

[kdavoli.livejournal.com]

Along the same lines, I'd like to see a similar poll done against Republican voters for comparison.

Since the sample for this KOS poll is just 'self-identified republicans', that doesn't give us any information about whether they're even (a) eligible to vote (e.g., of age, citizenship, etc), (b) registered to vote, or (c)--the kicker-- likely to vote.

It's an empirical question as to what the "average Joe (six-pack)" thinks and what the people who actually determine the outcome of an election cycle think.

[soong.livejournal.com]

I commented elsewhere that indeed I think it would be fair and interesting to conduct a "Democrats believe the darndest things" poll. But right now from my position I'm not coming up with what those things would likely be.

[elusiveat.livejournal.com]

Word.

If this accurately represents Republicans, I'm struck by how progressive the views are on most issues.

[fenicedautun.livejournal.com]

I object to the wording about the Book of Genesis question. I'd actually answer yes to that, as I think a part of understanding western culture and literature means a basic understanding of what Christianity and the bible consist of, including that the book of Genesis explains how God created the world. I also was somewhat disturbed by the demographic data at the bottom.

Although, striking how views of women have changed. Can you imaging the difference if this poll had been done 50 years ago?

[kdavoli.livejournal.com]

I too am curious about the wording of the questions.

I wonder how the responses would change if, for example, these questsions were re-worded thusly:

Should same sex couples be allowed to marry?
vs.
Should Big Government prohibit the States from marrying same-sex couples?

Should gay couples receive any state or federal benefits?
vs.
Should same-sex couples who are legally partnered be entitled to the same rights as married opposite-sex couples? Or should opposite-sex couples be entitled to special privileges?

Should openly gay men and women be allowed to teach in public schools?
vs.
An estimated ##% of public school teachers are gay. Should they be fired for it? (a) yes, (b) only if they are open about it, (c) no.

I'm not saying the opinions will do a 180 when the questions are worded like this, but it would be informative to have answers to THESE questions too.

[soong.livejournal.com]

The Immegration question may be a bit loaded. Obama v palin should be flopped half the time. Allowed-to could be flopped with prohibited from. I bet any of these logically neutral things could sway some of these questions 10% or more and I think all that would prove is that people are suggestable or fickle.

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

Should public school students be taught that the book of Genesis in the Bible explains how God created the world 77%? For real?

[shadeofnight.livejournal.com]

I totally believe this should be taunt in schools, alone with evolution and a few other mythologies. Give them all equal time.

I remember learning a lot about Native American views on how the earth was created in school when I was growing up and thought they where neat.

This answer would be more alarming if it was said to be the "only" thing taught. So a lot of it might be based on the spin the interview people gave..

I also know for a fact that most working people (the true core base of America), irregardless of political views, do not have time or care to waste time answering polls on the phone. The only time I answered one, was when I was unemployed for 6 months during the dot.com bust, and was bored to tears. Have not answered one since then. I could always tell by how the question where written that they did not want to know what I really thought, just their version of it.

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

Point. And yeah, "the book of Genesis says" is different from "teach this instead of science."

Re polls, I've occasionally agreed to answer polls and it always takes far longer than advertised.

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

I had no problem with what you said until you said "give them equal time."

If you want to teach various mythologies as part of a sociology/cultures curriculum, I'm totally there. But Evolution gets taught in Science class. Various mythologies should NOT be taught in Science class, as they are not Science, and they should not be given the same explanitory weight as Science.

[elusiveat.livejournal.com]

Do you believe any of those questions might be leading?

[cos]

> If you are my friend and identify as Republican, please, either fix your party or leave it. Isn't this embarrassing?

That is actually the reason these percentages are so high: So many people have stopped identifying as Republicans over the past half-decade. Because this stuff *is* embarassing. We've gone from nearly 40% Republican self-ID in the US around 2003-ish, to mid-20s. The craziest ones are the least likely to have left, so they now make up a majority of self-identified Republicans. They are not, however, necessarily a larger set of people; they may even be a smaller set than they were.

[klari.livejournal.com]

Hehehe I wonder if "Not sure" is the bin that people who replied with "I object to this question/wording" or "In this context yes and in that context no." Wouldn't that make you smile?

[klari.livejournal.com]

PS. If Obama was born in the US, why doesn't he just prove it already? Certainly there are hospital records if he lost his birth certificate. Why run up legal bills to be coy?