Terminalcoffee discussion

http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-0...

Here we go again.

Yawn. Assholedinajad constantly seeks to prove his ignorance.

In a 2011 poll, 30 percent of people thought PBS gets 5 percent or more of the federal budget, and another 40 percent believed it gets between 1 percent and 5 percent. The actual share of the federal budget PBS was getting at the time was .00014 percent.

Was it really ANOTHER 40 percent, or was it the original 30% of dumbasses plus another%?

If the total number of people believing PBS gets more than 1% of the total budget is 70%, we're fucked.

There are also 12% of the U.S. citizenry who still think President Obama is a secret Muslim.

And 25% (as of a study done in 2011) who believe our president is not a U.S. citizen.

Isn't that around the same percentage who think a rapture is imminent?

It would be great if they were all the same people that believed in chem-trails, vaccines causing autism, fluoride is evil, 9/11 was an inside job...then we could avoid them. Except when someone you love turns into a believer.

Chem trails? What's that?

Ha ha...I saw the fluoride frenzy on facebook the other day. Apparently they're going to put it in our Portland water! The Horror!

Phil wrote: "Was it really ANOTHER 40 percent, or was it the original 30% of dumbasses plus another%?"

I believe it was a separate, an other, 40 percent. So yes, 70 percent were way, way off base. Obviously, it was a poll of the clueless.

No one has ever asked me a poll question, GR polls excluded. Who does these polls? Who is polled? Political, clueless or otherwise. Does my opinion count for so little?

I've been robo-polled. But no one from the legitimate polling orgs has ever called me. I also never pick up the phone (land line) unless I know who's calling.

I kept a Nielsen diary for my radio listening once. I can't remember if I got paid for that or if it was volunteer.

I got robo called last night. One of the questions was if I was Protestant, Catholic, Mormon or Muslim. Atheist wasn't a choice nor Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Scientology or other. Also, If I was white, black, 'hispanic' or Asian. No other choices. I think it was a fake out.

I was paid $2 recently to complete a radio listening poll.

Like Gail, I've wondered about who's being polled and how the political polls are conducted.

You have to be a registered voter, or a likely voter (a subset of registered voters). Your chances are better if you have a landline, because not all pollsters call cellphones. And you have to pick up the phone when it rings. Still, the sampling sizes are tiny compared to the population, so your likelihood of being called is very small.

I'm a registered voter, have been for more than 20 years. I've never been polled.

We do not have a landline, but I did up until 2009.

I used to belong to Gallop's on line polling group. I quit because the surveys are very repetitive, and because I will not do survey any more if there is not some pay or reward. Gallop does not pay or have a reward program.

I have been part of Harris surveys for about a decade, but I have not completed one for a while because the rewards have been greatly reduced.

Interesting.

Should Gallop's surveys be taken more seriously as compensation is not involved?

Amelia wrote: "Interesting.

Should Gallop's surveys be taken more seriously as compensation is not involved?"

I know that they have more than the online panels/members in their survey results. That being said, for someone to stay on their panels and continue the complete the surveys time and again makes me think their survey sample is skewed to people that are more interested in politics than the average person or have an ax to grind.

Good point.

Should we really read much into any of these surveys then?

Pat wrote: "I used to belong to Gallop's on line polling group. I quit because the surveys are very repetitive, and because I will not do survey any more if there is not some pay or reward. Gallop does not p..."

Gawd! I'd love someone to pay me for my opinion. Right now, everyone gets the benefit for free. Or, as the Mr. says: Everyone is entitled to his wife's opinion.

*snorts*