Politics Plus

Here are the results of the ‘support Obama poll’:

And here are your comments:

From Jo on February 14, 2010 at 1:24 pm. 

 

Since I am a Canadian and not qualified to make a comment, I will say that since Obama is your President, you folks should support him on all issues, as long as he is your President. You voted for him, now he needs your support. Isn’t that how it is supposed to work? If you don’t like his issues, then you vote for someone else you can support.

I don’t like the man personally, I think he was all blunderbuss and no fire, and I think for the most part he has let you down, but while he is still in office, you folks need to support him. You guys hired him for the job.

 

From Oso on February 12, 2010 at 11:47 pm. 

 

Supporting Obama means supporting Wall Street’s financial policy,UHC’s health care policy and George Bush’s foreign policy. He can crawl up Lloyd Blankfein’s ass to make his next speech.

 

From Gwendolyn H. Barry on February 7, 2010 at 4:17 pm.  

 

Overall, TC, I still support my President… but I watch closely now. Ya know what I mean?

 

From Lisa G. on February 1, 2010 at 3:43 pm. 

 

I’m going with most issues. I don’t want to blindly say all issues without evaluating them first.

 

From chris williams in reply to Lisa G. on February 5, 2010 at 6:19 pm.

 

I think that most white people, want obama to fell. so they can blame it on the black man. his on party is his biggest problem. white people ganging up to protest a black man is not a new idea. only difference they dogs and clan members in white.

 

From Vigilante on February 1, 2010 at 10:02 am.

 

I find myself in easy agreement with BHO on most issues. But there are glaring exceptions: Afghanistan being a major one.

 

From Kevin on January 31, 2010 at 4:58 pm.  

 

I think that Obama needs the most support when faced with obstructionist actions undertaken by the GOP and their conservative misinformation machine. The Democrats lack an adequate structure to respond to the GOP garbage and will end up losing to the hordes of ignorant tea party sheep.

 

From Otis on January 30, 2010 at 11:06 pm.  

 

I think that the only way to truly evaluate any politician is on an issue by issue basis.

When I put this up, it was a trick question, intended to make a point.  In my opinion, a patriot supports whatever is the best policy for the country regardless of the source from which that policy arises.  The only way that this can be done is to base support on an issue by issue basis.

Overall, I find myself supporting more of Obama’s policies than I oppose.  Overall, I find myself opposing virtually all GOP policies.  I think most of us agree on that.  However, when we believe that Obama is wrong about an issue, isn’t it our patriotic duty to oppose him on that issue, even though we support him overall?

Kudos to Otis.  You nailed it, my friend.

Here is the original article for the quiz you took yesterday:

The public has consistently expressed strong interest in the health care debate, but relatively few Americans can correctly answer two key questions related to the Senate’s consideration of health care legislation.

In the latest installment of the Pew Research Center’s News IQ Quiz, just 32% know that the Senate passed its version of the legislation without a single Republican vote. And, in what proved to be the most difficult question on the quiz, only about a quarter (26%) knows that it takes 60 votes to break a filibuster  in the Senate and force a vote on a bill. The survey was conducted before Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown won a special election to the Senate on Jan. 19; Brown’s election means Senate Democrats can no longer count on a 60-vote majority once he takes office.

About six-in-ten (59%) correctly identify China as the foreign country holding the most U.S. government debt. Nearly as many (57%) know that the United States imports two-thirds of the oil it consumes. As was the case in previous knowledge surveys, a majority (55%) knows the current unemployment rate is about 10%. However, far fewer (36%) correctly estimate the current level of the Dow Jones Industrial Average at about 10,000 points.

The news quiz, conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press Jan. 14-17 among 1,003 adults reached on cell phones and landlines, asked 12 multiple choice questions on subjects ranging from economics and foreign affairs to prominent people in the news. Americans answered an average of 5.3 questions correctly.  

The survey finds that while the public struggled with most of the political questions on the survey, most Americans (56%) know that there currently is more than one woman serving on the Supreme Court. Notably, this is the only question on the quiz where as many women as men answer correctly; men scored significantly better on other questions. 

In response to questions about terrorism and national security, half (50%) correctly identify Yemen as the country where intelligence officials believe the suspect in an attempted Christmas Day airline bombing received training and bomb materials. A slightly smaller percentage (43%) knows that during all of 2009 there were more American military fatalities in Afghanistan than in Iraq; 32% said more U.S. troops were killed in Iraq. This question proved difficult for many, even though interest in developments in Afghanistan – and media coverage – picked up in late 2009 as President Obama announced his war strategy [See "Top Stories of 2009: Economy, Obama and Health Care," released Dec. 29, 2009].

Questions about people in the news round out the quiz update.  About four-in-ten (39%) know that Nevada Democrat Harry Reid is the majority leader of the U.S. Senate. About a third (32%) correctly pick Michael Steele as the chairman of the Republican National Committee. Interestingly, nearly half of Republicans (48%) are able to identify Reid as Senate majority leader compared with just a third (33%) of Democrats. More Republicans can identify Reid as majority leader than can identify Steel as chairman of the RNC (37%).

About four-in-ten (41%) correctly say that Stephen Colbert is a comedian and television talk show host. This is the only question on the quiz that more people younger than 30 than older people answer correctly (49% vs. 39%).

Asked how many GOP senators voted for the chamber’s health care bill on Dec. 24, only 32% know that the measure received no support from Republican members. About as many answer incorrectly, saying that five (13%), 10 (8%), or 20 (8%) GOP Senators voted for the bill. About four-in-ten (39%) do not know or decline to answer.

A smaller percentage (26%) knows that 60 votes are needed to break a filibuster in the Senate. About as many (25%) mistakenly say that a simple majority of 51 votes can break a filibuster.As with most other questions on the news quiz, well-educated people, older Americans and men are more likely to correctly answer the questions about the Senate vote on health care and the filibuster.

Less than a third of Republicans or Democrats can correctly identify the number of votes needed to end a filibuster (30% among Republicans, 25% among Democrats). College graduates fared better than other demographic groups on this question, but fewer than half of college graduates (45%) know that it takes 60 Senate votes to overcome a filibuster…

Inserted from <Pew Research>

Nine of us took the quiz and earned an average score of  9.77.  As a group we are more knowledgeable than 84% of the public.  If nothing else, this should highlight the responsibility we have to teach those with whom we interact.

Pew Research has produced a fascinating quiz, and I’d like to see how well our readers do.  It’s easy to do, just 12 multiple choice questions with 3 more for demographics.  I got all 12, but don’t be disappointed if you do not.  I spend several hours a day researching.  Please Comment with your results.  Tomorrow, I’ll post an article on the quiz and compare our results to t6he country as a whole.

To take the quiz, Click Here.