Monday, July 23, 2012

M.C. ESCHER DESIGNED AMERICAN VOTERS' MINDS






From USA Today:
Despite concerted Democratic attacks on his business record, Republican challenger Mitt Romney scores a significant advantage over President Obama when it comes to managing the economy, reducing the federal budget deficit and creating jobs, a national USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds.

By more than 2-1, 63%-29%, those surveyed say Romney's background in business, including his tenure at the private equity firm Bain Capital, would cause him to make good decisions, not bad ones, in dealing with the nation's economic problems over the next four years.

The findings raise questions about Obama's strategy of targeting Bain's record in outsourcing jobs and hammering Romney for refusing to commit to releasing more than two years of his tax returns.
However:
By double digits, those surveyed say the president better understands the problems Americans face in their daily lives.
This at a time when the #1 problem most Americans face in their daily lives is a bad economy.

This is bad for Obama:
A record number of Americans express skepticism about the activist role of government Obama espouses; 61% say the government is trying to do too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses.
And yet:
Forty-seven percent say they agree with Obama on the issues that matter most to them; 45% say that of Romney.

And, ultimately:
In the separate Gallup tracking poll, the race stands at 46% Obama, 45% Romney.
So apparently voters care most about the economy, and vastly prefer Romney on the economy, and think Obama's approach is too activist, but agree with Obama on the issues more than with Romney, and so the race is neck-and-neck. Obama's strategy of highlighting Romney's business record has backfired -- it just reminds people that he's been successful in dealing with money -- except that it hasn't backfired, because voters still don't favor Romney. Or maybe it's that they say they want someone who'd do a good job on the economy, and Romney fills the bill, but on second thought, given an Obama-Romney choice, they don't want Romney, even though he's persuaded them that he's the guy to do precisely what they want done.

Right. Got it.

9 comments:

Victor said...

Too many people polled don't have a clue as to what the feck is going on.

They're called, too often, "Independents."

As I've mentioned before, they aren't "independent,' so much as they are stupid, ignorant, lazy, and/or disinterested.

They'll wait until the last minute, then, because they used to still teach "Civics" back in HS in their day, they feel that have an obligation to vote, even if they don't have a feckin' clue as to who, what, when, where, how, or why they're voting - they've just been told it's THEIR duty.

Meanwhile, while these morons dither, and then rush to get informed at the last second by some equally ignorant feckin' asshole at work, church, or who's a friend or family member, MILLIONS of intelligent voters, who know and care about the issues, will be DISENFRANCHISED because they aren't white enough, speak with an accent, are too young, or too old and live in a city or smaller urban area.

In the words of Yakoff Smirnoff:
'AMERICA! VAT A KKKUNTRY!!!'

Anonymous said...

Could it be that Americans have internalized the idea of "the economy " as the stock market and the well-being of the 1%? And, conversely, that their inability to get a job reflects poorly on themselves, but isn't generalizable to "the economy "?

I think that would explain a lot, since we've gone through a decade of economic recovery that did little for middle class individuals.

Steve M. said...

I don't know what Americans think the economy is. The results of this poll just seem so self-contradictory -- and a lot of polls are like this.

Tommy said...

This country is full of incredibly confused. people. We really do get the governance we deserve

thethomas said...

Apparently, with his banking and railway experience, Jessie James (if still alive) should be the next Secretary of the Treasury and put in charge of AMTRACK.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps it's just confusion between two philosophies--rugged individualism that one can make it on one's own (perhaps true out there on the family farm or while taming the land and the natives in our Westward Expansion) or communal effort (perhaps also on display with barn-raisings and the like).

Two such prominent philosophies lead to confusion in the muddled middle.

Swellsman said...

Not sure this actually says anything about the effectiveness of Obama's attack ads. The poll in question is a national poll, and it is my understanding that Obama's attack ads have been focussed on the battleground states.

Perhaps it's just that the normally clueless citizenry in the non-battleground states are still clueless.

Philo Vaihinger said...

Every country is full of incredibly confused people.

Or Americans are even stupider than everyone else.

I'm not sure.

I'm confused.

Unknown said...

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............
lowed with 30.9% of the votes. According to the students, “Lee Seung Gi looks smart and intelligent” and