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Looks like it's around 40-50% at the moment.

I have here a list of the names of 207 jews
Rumsfeld
Wolfowitz

I have here a list of the names of 207 negroes
Colin Powell
Condi Rice

I have here a list of the names of 207 scumericans
Bush
US Constitution

I have here a list of the names of 207 scumerican opinions
support for nazi-style invasion

Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
versus
Censorship
more Censorship

Amendment II
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
versus
Murder
Gangster justice

Maybe the Iraqis are merely exercising their "Right to bear Arms" in their own country against a foreign invader.

Vote for Nader, Get Bush!

Much as I dislike Kerry's positions on a number of issues (including the DMCA and Globalization) he is far, far, far better than Bush. Since Nader has no chance in hell of being elected it is important to vote for Kerry (even if you don't like everything he says) in order to keep Bush from winning.

In 2000 a lot of people (myself included) voted for Nader because they opposed Gore's right-of-center positions on many issues and the result has been record deficits, prepetual war, general outrage from the international comunity and the gradual roll back of our civil liberties and constiutional rights.

Recent polls predict that Nader will get far less than the number of votes needed to get federal matching funds for the Green Party and that "his 2004 candidacy a much greater threat to the Democratic Party's candidate than to George W. Bush" (Source: The Gallup Organization, Summary, subscription required to view full article.) So don't kid yourself a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush and the last thing we (the people of the US) need is four more years of King George II.

ReDefeat Bush in 2004! Vote John Kerry for President

I don't consider 72% in favor of a "slim majority"...

Sure, maybe 72% were in favour of the war after the invasion had begun. That is because 10-20% of Americans appear to be mindless automatons who automatically support their president during wartime (a sensability that is much lauded by the American media).

In the weeks and months leading up to the war, public opinion fluctuated daily (also depending heavily on what question was asked). Go read some of the other surveys on the site you referred to, including this one, taken shortly before the war began, in which the exact words "slim majority" are used to describe support for an invasion without a new UN resolution.

-a

I don't consider 72% in favor of a "slim majority"...

I guess won't sell too much in America now would it...

In recent years, the percentage of Americans citing obesity as the country's chief health threat has increased, putting it on a similar level with AIDS in the 2002 and 2003 surveys. Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention singled out obesity as the country's greatest health threat, especially since it is linked to health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. Gallup

This is a bad thing since experience working at Fox news does not exactly enhance your resume when applying for a job with the real media

So much for this theory:

Miller hired by CNBC

[Ailes] was put in charge of the news operation for the sole purpose of slanting the news to the extreme right.

Extreme right, like Nazi Germany? Please. That's what we regularly see Susan Estrich, Davis Korn, Paul Krugman, and scores of other libs on FNC?

What notable conservatives are on CNN, except anti-war paleocon Bob Novak? How about ABC, whose only foriegn policy "experts" are from the Carter or Clinton administration, or from the leftie Brookings Institution?

Nice link to the far-left Salon.com, BTW. Nice story, which calls ABC "objective." In a recent poll, Peter Jennings was called the most anti-war reporter in all of American news.

ABC News admits to excessively negative Iraq coverage

The problem is that its core democratic of poor middle aged southern white racist men do not have much in the way of buying power. Advertisers much prefer to reach 18-35 audiences, gays, professionals, etc. in short pretty much everyone who is unlikely to watch Fox. In fact advertising on Fox News actually trades at a discount to other broadcasts reaching the same demographic because advertisers know that many of the demographics they do want are actually less likely to buy a product they see advertised on a channel they associate with biggotry.

You fail to provide a link to this claim of FNC's core demo, because it has no basis in fact. Why does FNC constantly run endless home refi adds? For all those poor southerners to refi their trailers? LOL! First time I've ever heard libs call Republicans "poor!" Hilarious. I thought we were rich guys who wanted tax cuts?

You are flat-out wrong. The FNC demo is better than CNN's; it is popular with young republican YUPPIEs. Newscorp is kicking a$$, and CNN is in the dumper financially, in case you haven't checked recently, if ever.

Although a typical liberal refrain is labeling conservatives "bigots" (although they often misspell it), it's an insulting, inaccurate troll, and your post should be rated as such.

You libs are only about 17-20% of the population, compared to about 34% conservative and the rest moderate (see Gallup - sorry, but their older polls require subscription).

Fox news will flip flop to the left.

Sorry, that (19%) demo is already filled by CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, AP, Reuters, NPR...not enough libs left to go around, LOL!

Dear paranoid left wing extremist. (I'd call you a liberal, but they're all probably embarrased as hell by you):

If, along with getting information from "govt influenced" news of CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News...I also get my information from the BBC, NPR, and all sorts of printed media, am I still a moron?

How could Bush have a 40% approval rating if it wasn't for idiots who believe the spoonfed crap being shoveled into their heads by the media.

Apparently I'm a lot smarter than you, since you screwed up your only fact in that opinionated paranoid rant. His current approval rating is at 53% http://www.gallup.com/poll/stateNation/

According to Gallup, a majority of Americans believe the federal government exerts either the right amount of power or not enough power. It's over 70% total.

Most Americans Don't Feel Government Threatens Civil Rights,

It seems, thankfully, most people would prefer the government actualy do something about terror, rather than complaining about being watched while surfing the Net in libraries, before the next 9-11 happens.

According to Gallup, a majority of Americans believe the federal government exerts either the right amount of power or not enough power. It's over 70% total.

Most Americans Don't Feel Government Threatens Civil Rights,

It seems, thankfully, most people would prefer the government actualy do something about terror, rather than complaining about being watched while surfing the Net in libraries, before the next 9-11 happens.

This will only happen again if stricter control over violent games is not put into place.

Moms across America uniting to make junior's life misserable a videogame.

Marketing: "70% of our main target group? We better make a game like that too"

According to the Gallup poll 70% of ALL teenage boys have played GTA. That's roughly 20 million teenagers, represented by a Gallup sample of 517 boys. At a ratio of 38684,7 to 1, that better be one hell of a sample job to represent the entire teenager base, which is extremely unpredictable as it is.

I went to the Gallup site to check out how Gallup polls are conducted. and I also found the teaser to the particular study.

"Grand Theft of Innocence? Teens and Video Games On Aug. 28, two teenagers from Newport, Tenn., pleaded guilty to two sniper-style shootings that left one man dead and a woman injured. The boys claimed to have gotten the idea from Grand Theft Auto, a violent video game that has caused controversy over its potential effects on kids. A new Gallup Youth survey indicates that this game is extremely popular among teens, particularly boys." After that you have to pay so that's as far as I got, and I'm sure that this poll will be quoted over and over again in some form of political hysteria or another.

Moms across America uniting to make junior's life misserable a videogame.

Marketing: "70% of our main target group? We better make a game like that too"

According to the Gallup poll 70% of ALL teenage boys have played GTA. That's roughly 20 million teenagers, represented by a Gallup sample of 517 boys. At a ratio of 38684,7 to 1, that better be one hell of a sample job to represent the entire teenager base, which is extremely unpredictable as it is.

I went to the Gallup site to check out how Gallup polls are conducted. and I also found the teaser to the particular study.

"Grand Theft of Innocence? Teens and Video Games On Aug. 28, two teenagers from Newport, Tenn., pleaded guilty to two sniper-style shootings that left one man dead and a woman injured. The boys claimed to have gotten the idea from Grand Theft Auto, a violent video game that has caused controversy over its potential effects on kids. A new Gallup Youth survey indicates that this game is extremely popular among teens, particularly boys." After that you have to pay so that's as far as I got, and I'm sure that this poll will be quoted over and over again in some form of political hysteria or another.

One of the coolest books I have read:

First, Break All The Rules - from Gallup Publications. I highly recommend it to everyone when we start talking about stuff like this at work, or staff picnic, etc...

What's happening here is that the focus is shifting away from being a good sysadmin, or a good computer programmer, salesperson, etc. and the focus is shifted towards something else, something along the lines of multi-tasking and balancing tasks and having the social engineering skills to deal with all the stuff on your plate. Those are two different kinds of skills.

I think he's the one that introduced the civil union for homosexuals in Vermont. That's not something that a moderate would do, and it's not what independants want. All poles [sic] show that a majority of Americans support a traditional marriage as defined as being between a man and a woman.

Do I even need to point out the glaring contradiction contained within your own words? Civil unions are not marriages! Perhaps that's why they have distinct names. I'm sick of seeing this little rhetorical bait-and-switch used to paint Dean as some far-left, unelectable pinko. In fact, Americans are split down the middle when it comes to legalized civil unions. Much like they are on the issue of whether to elect a Democratic or Republican president. Which tells me that a Dean presidency may not be so farfetched as you homophobes wish. The man's got my vote.

Yes, because polls must consult every member of society in order to be valid. You must need a remedial course in statistics.

Cretin. And don't be the type of ass who immediately starts talking about "flawed sampling", or "biased questions".

Oh, and just so you don't think my post is devoid of facts and totally ad hominem...go argue with Gallup whose last datapoint (3/25-3/30) shows 70% of Americans favor the war.

Posting Anonymously because I just don't give a shit.

Gallup Poll: 70% of Americans support the death penalty.

The vast majority of Americans feel that, at least in some cases, killing is not wrong. What's that you say, the beliefs of Americans don't determine morality? Why then, should your "ethical philosophers" (do you mean philosophers of ethics?) and religious authorities (we'll come back to this one) be the ones who decide what's right and wrong? Because they've studied it? They sat on a mountain somewhere with their legs crossed, and thirty-six minutes later knew all that which is Good and Just?

On to the religious folks. Now, if anyone is going to know what's right and what's not, it should be these people, no, for here we have some folks that god has chosen to enlighten. I'm not sure if you're familiar with most versions of god, but in general god's pretty old, and its opinion on various matters hasn't changed to much, certainly in the last couple of years. But since that's the case, how do you explain it being okay for missionaries to go slaughter people they couldn't convert, just a few centuries ago. Certainly god's thoughts on the matter haven't changed since then, which must mean man's understanding has. If man was wrong then, who's to say he's right now?

In conclusion, bite me you hippy.

I've recently taken the stance that there will always be some small group of people that you'll never be able to convince. For instance, with the moon landing, a Gallup poll showed that about 6 percent of US citizens think it was a hoax. Interestingly, they mention that about this percentage of people will end up saying yes to almost any poll question asked! For futher evidence of people doing irrational things, look at the mid-term elections - Rep. Traficant from Ohio got 15 percent of the vote and he's in prison on 10 counts of corruption. Yet somehow he's still the best person to represent the people? This is why I really think the best you can do is lay out the facts, teach as much as possible and ultimately hope that enough people "get it".

Expect carefully scheduled wars, PR events and more of the kinds of tricks (stripping black democrats off the voter's rolls) that were pulled in Florida

With Bush's approval ratings dipping as much as this. I would expect war, or some other stunt very soon.

Just for all those who are making the US out to look like the good guy here, try some statistics The US consistantly ranks dead last among the 22 richest nations in terms of its foreign aid as a percentage of Gross National Product. The kicker is that it is behind Italy (which is in the midst of a political crisis) and Japan (which is in the middle of a decade long recession). If anything, the US should be apologizing for not having milled the corn in the first place.

More points:

a) Half of all US foreign aid is directed towards military purposes.
b) Of course, you might think this is just the democratic process at work. Americans don't want to spend that much on foreign aid. Of course, Americans also don't know how much we actually spend on foreign aid. Since they think we spend 15%, and we actually spend less than 1%, the first poll mentioned holds no water.

Look, I'm not here to demonize America. I like it here a lot. I just want to get it out there that as far as foreign policy is concerned, the American people are in the dark, and the American government does whatever is in its best interest. While I don't suddenly expect everyone to become foreign policy gurus, and the American government to be totally self-less (it shouldn't) some steps towards a nice middle ground would be a good start.

Gallup has been randomizing the order of poll answers for many, many years now.

The next major step Gallup made was to randomly give slightly differing forms of a question to estimate the systematic bias due to the phrasing of a question. In my opinion, that is the real key to error estimation in polls. Since you have to phrase a question one way or another, you can never really remove this kind of systematic error, but at least you can estimate how large the error it is.

Then don't "feel"... Calculate. You'll see that 2,401 is enough for just about any significance level you can think of. Statisticians deal with this stuff all the time. A sample of 2,401 is HUGE for this. Most Gallup polls only use a sample of 1,000 or so to calculate the opinion of the entire adult population of the United States. See: this You're correct about the Linux poll probably not being a representative sample, but even that isn't known for sure. Care to take the data from this poll, data from a random sample and preform a simple hypothesis test? (Hint: It's expensive, time consuming, and in the end they might be the same.)

Republicans lead Democrats 47% to 43% among likely voters

It is critically important to differentiate between those who do not "give a damn" and those who do, but disagree with the espoused viewpoint. I, for one, fit into the latter category. This debate--one of huge importance to this country at the moment--unfortunately is marked by incredible intolerance and divisiveness both from the right and the left; witness the suggestions that anyone who doesn't support Ashcroft's views is abetting terrorism, but anyone who does is a fascist pig. In fact, as in most arguments, there is a broad middle ground, and that's where I find myself.

With all do respect to the posted interview, it is long on sound, short on sense. I would like, for example, to see more about the unease beneath the "veneer" of public support. The latest Gallup data suggests that only 10% of the populace thinks that the government has gone too far; 60% think it is about right, and 26% think that the government has not gone far enough. Approval ratings for Bush are historically high, and given my perception of John Ashcroft's views and character (I'm a Missouri refugee), his approval rating of 76% seems absurdly high. My views aside, to suggest that this is a veneer is either to suggest that Gallup's methodology is flawed or people are outright lying to the pollsters. Either suggestion, in my opinion, requires more backing than a vehement assertion.

Steinhardt also makes a clever reference to the "slippery slope" argument in his first response, suggesting that as we are now on a "war footing" (which I regard as blatantly untrue), and "apply[ing] the laws of war domestically, civil liberties will become a thing of the past as this war goes on "without an end." Though convenient, I don't really think this holds water; the only effort to apply the laws of war resulting from September 11th are the military tribunals, and they explicitly do not apply to U.S. citizens (and, lest anyone suggest that non-citizens receive the same Constitutional protections as citizens, that position is at best debatable even when the circumstances in question occur in U.S. territory, which it looks like they will ordinarily not here). And it largely goes unnoted by the left that the original order establishing the military tribunals has been gutted from its original draconian form, and now conforms much more closely to the UCMJ, and will include a right to appeal. It also goes unnoticed that in the first instance in which they could have invoked the military tribunals, the government did not; Zacarias Moussaoui was arraigned in Federal Court in Alexandria, VA.

My own politics are left-of-center, but I consider myself a liberal in the classical sense rather than in the post-Vietnam, anti-government, anti-military, anti-corporate sense. Unfortunately, the pundits whom I once considered to be my voice, or at least a useful voice of reason, have abandoned me, adopting a terribly hypocritical position that I regard as scarcely less dangerous to me and my rights than the equally ridiculous position of the far right. My concern is tempered, somewhat, by the knowledge that similar fights have occurred every time this country has gone to war. We--and our rights--have survived more serious conflicts than this; we will survive this one too.

-db

well, I think that we are sliding down the path to becoming a police state. It's actually pretty popular right now.

Don't beleive me? look at the latest gallup polls here.

What was particularily shocking was this:

Requiring Arabs, including those who are U.S. citizens, to carry a special ID.

49% supported this, and 49% opposed it. That is incredibly insane. Perhaps those 49% who supported it should be especially identified for being morons :).

This article from Gallup is my favorite gauge of American scientific understanding. It is claimed (among other findings) that 79% of Americans say the earth goes around the sun, versus the 18% who say the sun goes around the earth.

This may make it sound like there are a lot of ignorant Americans, but it turns out that Germans and British give these answers in about the same proportions. (Maybe the French do better; they are curiously silent on that point.)

Your recollection is faulty. This Gallup poll survey shows the number of Americans who think the Apollo moon landings were faked is about 6%. The number hasn't changed since 1995. I recall another article that I can't find the URL for right now (at least I acknowledge my inability to recall) that basically said the 6% number is lower than it was in the '70s or '80s!

You think it would have been "highly unlikely". Do us all a favor and shut off your computer and never turn it back on again. You can't even research a number that has been widely publicized, often misquoted, or outright lied about (a la Fox) . But you expect us to listen to your opinion. Sheesh.

Yet 81 percent of Americans told the Gallup they blame the Internet for Columbine.

That doesn't seem to be true. Gallup publishes most of their social anaylsis polls on their website.

Not once does this seemed to be claimed in their polls. Even mainstream alarmist media knows that they have to follow up and be able to prove references. Once again, though, JonKatz decides that he's going to make some groundless, alarmist, speculatory social commentary, taking advantage of his own celebrity, and then tries to back it up with fake data.

From what I've read in the past few months, it seems the only reasonable writer for Slashdot is jamie. (Editors, like CmdrTaco, don't conut...). Maybe JonKatz should find some journalistic responsibility, or else hop over to a site/paper that's more openly tabloid-ish. Or maybe go on Oprah.

-Andrew

I find it quite hard to swallow that the "lack of traditional Christian morals" is one of the root causes of school problems. Consider the following:

On the 7th of March, soon after the Santee school shooting, there was another school shoting, this time at a Roman Catholic High school. Clearly Christian morals didn't stop this person from committing an incredibly stupid action.

Even if we do buy into the myth that a Christian upbringing would eliminate the problems with todays youths, you're neglecting some basic facts. Namely, that America is an incredibly religious nation. According to a recent Gallup Poll 88% of Americans feel that religion is fairly to very important in their lives. Americans attend religious services at a far greater rate than many other western countries, such as Italy, Sweden or Great Britian; yet those countries have lower rates of violent crimes and societal problems.

Something I find quite interesting (but I can't recall where I read it), is that the majority of the school shootings (which are essentially public suicide attempts) take place in suburban settings. They aren't occuring in the inner city schools, places traditionally held to be full of crime.

Ryan T. Sammartino

A little web-surfing finds the claim that 40% of the UAW typically votes Republican. And according to this link a Gallop poll at one point in the campaign found 30% of union members intending to vote for Bush, 61% intending to vote for Gore.

So just because you can't imagine black or union members voting republican, doesn't mean they don't do so.

(as for me, I vote libertarian)

Get the facts - from gallup OTHER SPECIFIC - 1% NONE - 8% (athiest or agnostic I presume) UNDESIGNATED - 2% I'd say a good 10% of Americans are non-judeo-christian, a bit higher than some other figures bantered about here. -=ping GOD: Unknown Host God =-

Reread the page, dude. Check out the answer to 'Thinking about Microsoft -- the computer software company that produces Windows 95 and other products -- do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the Microsoft Corporation?' 65% in favor, 72% among computer users. Essentially equal to people's opinions about his Billness (69/74). Think about it. If it were put to a vote, Microsoft would get off scot-free.

It's cute that you _think_ that Microsoft is despised by the public, but in fact that's not true. When the Microsoft ruling was first handed down, a survey by the Gallup Poll showed that people actually liked Microsoft. 69% of respondents had a positive view of Bill Gates, making him more likeable than either of the two presidential candidates.

What's most important about this case, however, is how few people outside of the whiny geek contingent actually care about the issue. In the poll mentioned earlier, a sizeable number of people responding to the poll were undecided. Most people who use Microsoft products are sometimes annoyed by the crashing and the cost of upgrading systems, but these are the same people who have used AOL for three years despite all of its technical problems. (The reasons for both cases: "everyone uses it, so there can't be something better" and "I already know how to use this, and I don't want to learn something new.")

In fact, according to the Gallup poll once again, the trend is increasing in favor of Microsoft. Try to convert a Microsoft lifer to Linux. The second he/she gets a link to a Windows Media Player or QuickTime movie, a cute EXE attachment like a video greeting card, or a Microsoft Office document for StarOffice to slowly beat to death, you'll have some 'splaining to do.

It's cute that you _think_ that Microsoft is despised by the public, but in fact that's not true. When the Microsoft ruling was first handed down, a survey by the Gallup Poll showed that people actually liked Microsoft. 69% of respondents had a positive view of Bill Gates, making him more likeable than either of the two presidential candidates.

What's most important about this case, however, is how few people outside of the whiny geek contingent actually care about the issue. In the poll mentioned earlier, a sizeable number of people responding to the poll were undecided. Most people who use Microsoft products are sometimes annoyed by the crashing and the cost of upgrading systems, but these are the same people who have used AOL for three years despite all of its technical problems. (The reasons for both cases: "everyone uses it, so there can't be something better" and "I already know how to use this, and I don't want to learn something new.")

In fact, according to the Gallup poll once again, the trend is increasing in favor of Microsoft. Try to convert a Microsoft lifer to Linux. The second he/she gets a link to a Windows Media Player or QuickTime movie, a cute EXE attachment like a video greeting card, or a Microsoft Office document for StarOffice to slowly beat to death, you'll have some 'splaining to do.

Didn't anyone ever tell you that Hate is a strong word... Do you spend a lot of valuable time rushing to judgement and criticizing people?

To blame:

Availability of guns: 60%p? Parents: 51%

TV Programs and music: 49%

Social pressures on youth: 43%

The internet: 34%

Media coverage of similar incidents: 34%

Schools: 11%

The not-at-all to blame numbers were pretty low across the board, in fact the ONLY place where they were in the double digits at all were with the schools (22% not at all to blame) and the Internet (11% not at all to blame.)

To see the Gallup Poll for yourself, the link is here.

I'm afraid I'm not going to have to accuse Jon Katz of milking this story for all it's worth, along with the rest of the media. I haven't heard any really useful suggestions for future prevention of this sort of thing from them either.

Your Servant, A.C.

With regards to the comment about how people regularly break the speed limit, I think you emphasized the key word: "minor." It quite plainly doesn't make sense to lump speeding and rape (for example) into the same category.

With regards to your request for references, I guess I have always considered it common knowledge that the vast majority of Americans believe that abortion should not be made illegal. This aside, I did do some Web searching and found some characteristically biased results on both sides of the fence, from both pro-choice sites and conservative religious sites (i.e., CBN and the American Spectator.) In short, most of the "poll numbers" that you'll find on the 'Net are drastically bogus in both directions.

Unbiased numbers can be found, though.

Here's a reputable one: A Gallup page that clearly shows that people who believe that abortion should be illegal in all cases are in a severe minority.

Finally, regarding your slavery comment: The "large majority" of people who didn't find it to be morally wrong were on the losing side of a bloody civil war. Let's not go down that road, okay? :-)