POLLS CAN TELL YOU A LOT. AND A LOT OF THINGS JUST SHOULD NOT BE
Yes, it is true that polls for the most part reflect how the people interviewed feel about issues, how they intend on voting, their general inclination to exercise the right to vote, etc.
But we also know how polls are manipulated sometimes in keeping with who pays for them and who would benefit if a certain result was beneficial to the party who is paying for the poll. That is why most reputable poll outfits would actually do a little “tweaking” in their polls to cater to their client’s needs. But they are also smart enough to know that if they are dead wrong their credibility will suffer…and that is why they incorporate the so-called “margin of error”
Then we have polls that are true to what the people polled feel. In some cases there is an overwhelming majority that feels one way or another about a certain issue. Such was the case when the Civil Rights bill came to a vote…if you had polled people then…and they did; most Americans were dead set against that legislation. Yet those who were being discriminated against felt that it was not just unjust, unfair and terribly misguided to have institutionalized discrimination in the land of the free.
We see how a great majority of Americans feel about Immigration Reform…to hear most people talk you would think that the Arizona law is the greatest thing since sliced bread and if they live in another state they would want to have a similar law in that state in which they live.
I say to them: Poppycock…you are talking that way because you are not a Latino and you don’t feel in your own flesh the sting of the daggers of discrimination and hatred. Xenophobia is very much alive and kicking in our nation and this poll shows that there are a lot of people out there who are racist xenophobes.
Nearly 1.7 million people have weighed in on Ask America as we collect non-traditional polling data on topics ranging from the economy to immigration.
The graphic above asks, "What are the nation's most pressing issues?" and breaks down 1,671,267 responses by gender, answer and issue at hand. The issue's importance to the people is then represented by the size of the light bulb it lives in. You can see, for example, that almost 6 in 10 people who responded believe that America can still maintain its superpower status despite China's speedy economic rise.
Other survey results include:
_ 51 percent of people who answered support the extension of Bush's tax cuts only for the middle class, while the remaining 49 percent feel the tax cuts should remain in place for all income brackets.
_ 65 percent believe Obama is "out of touch," while 35 percent maintain he is "busy working on hard problems."
_ 53 percent feel that wealthy oil companies should be taxed more to subsidize alternate energy sources.
_ 75 percent would like to see their state adopt an immigration law similar to Arizona's.
_ 65 percent believe the tea party is not powered by negative appeals based on race.
_ 65 percent want the courts to invalidate the health care law because of its universal mandate.
My take on all of this: While polls are significant, we can’t govern a country of laws and one that respects individual rights by what the majority thinks. We have a concept in our country that the majority rules but the minority has rights…even if 99% of the population thought a certain way, they have no moral authority to get together and make laws that deprive that 1% of their basic rights as guaranteed by the Constitution.
Of course that does not mean that those who hold prejudices and want to discriminate can’t do so…they can still be as bigoted and as racist as they would like to be…only they can’t get together with others of the same mind set and deprive a group of people their basic human rights based on race, religion, sexual orientation or place of birth.
I don’t know who came up with this idea that some people consider themselves superior because they are born on this or the other side of a body of water. Or because the skin pigmentation is lacking they are better. Conversely, nobody can tell me they are better because they insert a penis in a vagina.