Archive for the ‘politics’ Category
February 1st, 2012 | 
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Shaw's Blog: Gallup Poll–Battleground State Nightmare for Obama
fox nation Today, Gallup released their aggregate state approvals for President Obama over the entirety of 2011. His drop relative to his 2009 standing is especially stark in battleground states. Here are some of the …
Webutante: Battleground States Show Sharp Decline For Obama
Battleground States Show Sharp Decline For Obama. AS MITT ROMNEY MOPS UP IN FLORIDA TONIGHT, many of my fellow conservative commenters diss and whine about Romney's conservative qualifications, his …
The following data is from all of 2011, and 2012 is not looking any better.
The Good News For Obama
His political standing is in reasonable but not good shape in traditionally Democratic Midwestern battlegrounds such as Wisconsin and Michigan and the more Republican heartland state of Iowa where his rating is 46 approval/46 disapproval.
And his numbers in Virginia are better than those in other battleground states 45% approve, 49% disapprove.
His numbers in North Carolina 44/49 approve/disapprove and Florida 44/48 approve/disapprove and even in Georgia 45/48 approve/disapprove aren’t good, but given his overall numbers, they aren’t that bad either.
The Bad News For Obama
His job approval ratings in the other battleground states are solidly underwater however, and in many states, they are much worse than publicly perceived, mostly because of White House spin.
In Colorado, which is seen as a gateway to aggressively contesting the Southwest, Obama scored a net -12 job approval 40/52 throughout the year.
In Nevada, also seen as a major bellwether, Obama has a 41% approval rating, with 50% of respondents disapproving.
In the critical battleground state of Ohio, 50% of voters disapprove of his performance, with only 42% approving.
And in the must-win state of Pennsylvania, Obam’s job approval is underwater, with 45% approving and 48% disapproving.
More Bad News
New Mexico is seen as a Democratic-leaning state because of its voting history and its significant Hispanic population.
But Obama’s performance there, 42% favorable, 51% unfavorable, isn’t much different than his weak standing in the other Southwestern battlegrounds.
The Obama campaign argues that it has an outside shot at contesting Arizona, but his approval rating is at 40%, with 52% disapproving.
In New Hampshire, a state that John Kerry carried in 2004, Obama’s job approval is at 39%, with 54% disapproving, and it’s a state that with Romney heading the GOP ticket, is starting to look more and more out of reach.
So What Does Obama Have To Do To Win?
Based on the above numbers, the most plausible path for the president’s re-election runs through Virginia, Florida and Iowa, which isn’t a scenario that Team Obama drew up in its spin sessions, but if the polls are to be believed, then it’s likely the only way to go.
Posted in 2012, administration, government, Liberals, politics, polls, president, presidential elections, republicans, White House | 
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Gays: Facts, myths and religious prejudice | Public Eye Daily
www.publiceye.co.ls1/27/12
For those that are unsure, prejudice is defined as a preconceived opinion not based on reason or experience, in other words, you are being unfair and irrational in your attitude towards the subject(s) of your prejudice, normally …
“…there is reason to believe that strict right-wing ideology might …
wizbangblog.com1/28/12
Those ideologies, in turn, stress hierarchy and resistance to change, attitudes that can contribute to prejudice, [researcher Gordon Hodson] wrote in an email to LiveScience. … Social conservatives were defined as people …
According to an article published on January 26, 2012 in LiveScience, “People with prejudices most likely have low IQs and are Social Conservatives”.
And according to Gordon Hodson, a psychologist at Brock University in Ontario, “the research indicates that children with low intelligence are more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes as adults.”
“And these findings point to a vicious cycle”.
“Low-intelligence adults tend to gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, the study found. Those ideologies, in turn, stress hierarchy and resistance to change, attitudes that can contribute to prejudice.”
In the study, researchers used two forms of intelligence tests and a series of statements supposed to measure social conservative attitudes, statements similar to:
"Family life suffers if mum is working full-time".
"Schools should teach children to obey authority".
And from the replies to the statement they attempted to capture attitudes about race using statements such as:
"I wouldn’t mind working with people from other races”.
Researchers say they found a correlation between having a low intelligence in childhood and holding prejudicial attitudes in adulthood, and the relationship linking the two was social conservatism.
And in a second data set, researchers also claimed to have found a link between poor abstract reasoning skills and homophobia.
* Social conservatism is a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism often associated with the position that the national government, or the state, should have a greater role in the social and moral affairs of its citizens, generally supporting whatever it sees as morally correct choices and discouraging or outright forbidding those it considers morally wrong ones. Source Wikipedia.
It’s important to note that the study refers to social conservatism, not political conservatism, and lead researcher Gordon Hodson, stresses that the researchers weren’t implying that all liberals are smart and all conservatives are dumb.
"There are multiple examples of very bright conservatives and not-so-bright liberals, and many examples of very principled conservatives and very intolerant liberals”. he said.
But Brian Nosek, who is a social and cognitive psychologist at the University of Virginia and not related to the study, told LiveScience.
"They’ve pulled off the trifecta of controversial topics. When one selects intelligence, political ideology and racism and looks at any of the relationships between those three variables, it’s bound to upset somebody”.
Hodson says however that,
“It’s a reasonable to conclude that a conservative ideology might appeal to those who have trouble grasping the complexity of the world. Socially conservative ideologies tend to offer structure and order. Unfortunately, many of these features can also contribute to prejudice”.
Posted in 2012, Acorn, Illegal immigration, Immigration, politics, presidential elections, racial profiling, Sotomayor |
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