Why Is the Left So Threated By My Poll?(John Ziegler)

FOX FORUM ^ | December 3rd, 2008 7:00 AM Eastern | John Ziegler

[radar101]

It has been quite a strange couple of weeks since I decided to commission a Zogby poll of Obama voters. I chose to do this at great personal expense to determine whether interviews I did on Election Day (for a forthcoming documentary I am producing on the media coverage of the election) were indeed representative of the larger population.

In a nutshell, here’s what happened next: I suddenly become a favorite target of the Internet’s left-wing attack machine. Zogby was forced to defend the poll and two days later, his organization partially abandoned it. The video of Obama voters trying to answer the same questions that were asked by the Zogby poll has been viewed over 1.6 million times on YouTube. After Zogby balked, I managed to to commission a new poll that included both Obama and McCain voters as well as a couple of added twists.

President-elect Obama on Election Night (AP)

What was most remarkable about the left’s extreme reaction to the original Zogby poll was that it was utterly devoid of even the pretense of addressing the real issues that the nationwide telephone survey exposed. Instead of debating the implications of the results (in my view they clearly revealed a massive amount of media-induced ignorance on the part of the voting public), they chose to focus on the questioners rather than the actual answers from Obama voters — clearly, the responses they gave made them feel remarkably insecure. They also completely missed the original intent in asking these questions. It was not to make voters look stupid but rather to measure the impact of media bias on what they knew, or thought they knew.

Essentially, the left-wing blogosphere went all “Joe the Plumber” on me and John Zogby. I took the heat. He, apparently, could not.

[radar101]

Here are just some of the “highlights” of the Wilson Research Strategies poll of 1,000 voters whose demographic breakdown was an exact replica of the total voting population and whose results totally vindicate the controversial Zogby poll:

35 % of McCain voters got 10 or more of 13 multiple choice questions correct.
18% of Obama voters got 10 or more of 13 questions correct.
McCain voters knew which party controls congress by a 63-27 margin.
Obama voters got the “congressional control” question wrong by 43-41.
Those that got “congressional control” correct voted 56-43 for McCain.
Those that got “congressional control” wrong voted 65-35 for Obama.
Those “exposed” to FOX News got “congressional control” correct 64-25 (+39)
Those ‘exposed” to CNN got “Congressional control” correct 48-38 (+10)
Those “exposed” to network news got “Congressional control” correct 48-39 (+9)
Those “exposed” to print media got “Congressional control” correct 52-37 (+15)
Those “exposed” to MSNBC got “Congressional control” correct 55-35 (+20)
Those “exposed” to talk radio got “Congressional control” correct 61-29 (+32)
Voters in the South had the best response rate on “Congressional control” (+22)
Voters in the Northeast had the worst response rate on “Congressional control” (+9)
Those “exposed” to FOX News voted 70-29 for McCain.
Those “exposed” to CNN voted 63-37 for Obama.
Those “exposed” to MSNBC voted 73-26 for Obama.
Those “exposed” to network newscasts voted 62-37 for Obama.
Those “exposed” to national newspapers voted 64-36 for Obama
Those “exposed” to talk radio voted 61-38 for McCain.
Those that could associate Bill Ayers’ name/story with Obama voted 52-48 for McCain.
Those that knew Obama had made negative comments about “coal power plants” voted 76-24 for McCain.
Those that knew Obama had his opponents knocked off the ballot in his first campaign voted 66-34 for McCain.
McCain voters did poorly (only 42% correct) on the Keating question and, in general, the voters did universally worse on questions where the negative information was about their candidate.
Women under 55 did worse than they might have by guessing on four of the thirteen questions yet 95% of them knew that Palin was the candidate with a pregnant teenage daughter. — Even 95% of those in this demographic group who didn’t know “Congressional control” got this question correct.
Those “exposed” to MSNBC scored 90% correct on the three Palin questions (including an incredible 98% on the pregnant teenage daughter question), while those not exposed to MSNBC averaged 84% correct on those three questions.

[radar101]

Here are just some of the “highlights” of the Wilson Research Strategies poll of 1,000 voters whose demographic breakdown was an exact replica of the total voting population and whose results totally vindicate the controversial Zogby poll:

35 % of McCain voters got 10 or more of 13 multiple choice questions correct.
18% of Obama voters got 10 or more of 13 questions correct.
McCain voters knew which party controls congress by a 63-27 margin.
Obama voters got the “congressional control” question wrong by 43-41.
Those that got “congressional control” correct voted 56-43 for McCain.
Those that got “congressional control” wrong voted 65-35 for Obama.
Those “exposed” to FOX News got “congressional control” correct 64-25 (+39)
Those ‘exposed” to CNN got “Congressional control” correct 48-38 (+10)
Those “exposed” to network news got “Congressional control” correct 48-39 (+9)
Those “exposed” to print media got “Congressional control” correct 52-37 (+15)
Those “exposed” to MSNBC got “Congressional control” correct 55-35 (+20)
Those “exposed” to talk radio got “Congressional control” correct 61-29 (+32)
Voters in the South had the best response rate on “Congressional control” (+22)
Voters in the Northeast had the worst response rate on “Congressional control” (+9)
Those “exposed” to FOX News voted 70-29 for McCain.
Those “exposed” to CNN voted 63-37 for Obama.
Those “exposed” to MSNBC voted 73-26 for Obama.
Those “exposed” to network newscasts voted 62-37 for Obama.
Those “exposed” to national newspapers voted 64-36 for Obama
Those “exposed” to talk radio voted 61-38 for McCain.
Those that could associate Bill Ayers’ name/story with Obama voted 52-48 for McCain.
Those that knew Obama had made negative comments about “coal power plants” voted 76-24 for McCain.
Those that knew Obama had his opponents knocked off the ballot in his first campaign voted 66-34 for McCain.
McCain voters did poorly (only 42% correct) on the Keating question and, in general, the voters did universally worse on questions where the negative information was about their candidate.
Women under 55 did worse than they might have by guessing on four of the thirteen questions yet 95% of them knew that Palin was the candidate with a pregnant teenage daughter. — Even 95% of those in this demographic group who didn’t know “Congressional control” got this question correct.
Those “exposed” to MSNBC scored 90% correct on the three Palin questions (including an incredible 98% on the pregnant teenage daughter question), while those not exposed to MSNBC averaged 84% correct on those three questions.

[WayneS]

Because it exposes the depth and breadth of their ignorance AND their stupidity, that is why...

[mnehring]

I would argue one little beef with this. It isn’t really a poll but an analysis as it is a study after the fact.

[ritewingwarrior]

..and the truth. Denial is a terrible thing.

[WayneS]

Good point.

[AppyPappy]

Threated???

[GOP Poet]

Answer: Because liberalism truly is a mental illness. If we are not careful we too will contract our own insanity. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. John should know or maybe he is learning. You can not reason with liberals. Facts, surveys, polls, the people’s rule through winning elections do not matter if they contradict or in anyway challenge their own thinking, feeling, or philosophy. It is like trying to get a psychopath to feel empathy for those he murders. Not going to happen.

[TomServo]

Threated

Threated???

[cripplecreek]

Because it exposes them for the mind numbed morons that they are.

[mnehring]

I thought of that reading the comments at the link. Libs where talking about how we didn’t trust the polls back when it predicted an Obama win.

[gridlock]

It is astonishing that a man was elected to the Presidency based on the cost of the wardrobe of his opponent’s Vice Presidential nominee.

[Red Badger]

Picky, picky..........

[murron]

Mr. Ziegler, welcome to the world of liberalism. They don’t attack the message, but rather the messenger, because they can’t defend the message. If they marginalize the messenger, then it weakens the message in the eyes of the public.

[FrankR]

Libs are threatened by the sun coming up in the morning, for fear of global warming;

Libs are threatened by cars going down the street, for fear of pollution;

Libs are threatened by their own sexuality, for fear they might be thought "insensitive";

Libs are threatened by pregnant women, for fear they might NOT have an abortion;

Libs are threatened by everything...they are a truly paranoid species existing only to parasite what is yours away and use it to buy new friends (and votes).

Liberalism IS a mental disease, and those who practice it had a very unhappy childhood.

[popdonnelly]

Why is the Left threatened? That’s easy. The Left believes that they are the most intelligent people in the World. Therefore, they should rule. The poll threatens their entire self-image and worldview.

[ComputerGuy]

Voters in the South had the best response rate on “Congressional control” (+22)

Voters in the Northeast had the worst response rate on “Congressional control” (+9) No surprise there.

[mnehring]

But important.. folks on the comments where trying to equate this to predictive polls before the election. Polls attempt to predict outcomes or opinions. This is a study, assessing variables.

[mnehring]

About a week ago, we had a thread with a 33 question civics test. Most FReepers got 80% plus, and a lot of us got perfect scores. I wandered over to DU and they posted the same one.. most of them failed and where complaining about how the questions where bias or wrong...