Poll: Obama on Voter Fear and Irrationality

President Obama recently said the following:

Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time is because we’re hardwired not to always think clearly when we’re scared. And the country’s scared.

In light of these comments (more detailed report on them here), here is a poll:

Polls: 18-24 Percent Believe Obama is a Muslim

Democracy– rule by public opinion — is something lauded in our country and around the world. But the public, quite frankly, is often easily duped into believing things that just aren’t so.

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=obama+muslim&iid=9544144″ src=”http://view4.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9544144/president-barack-obama/president-barack-obama.jpg?size=500&imageId=9544144″ width=”234″ height=”141″ /]A recent prime example might be the results of two recent polls. One Pew survey found that 18 percent of Americans actually believe that President Obama is a Muslim. That number has actually risen over time. This is despite a year and a half of Obama in office for the public to get to know him better. Another poll, from TIME, found that 24 percent believe Obama, actually a professed Christian, is a Muslim.

This perhaps can be blamed partly on the prevalence of dubious chain emails with claims about political figures that are just too good to be true. But the real blame falls mainly on Americans all-too-willing to remain ignorant of facts.

Views on the ‘Ground Zero Mosque’

As an exercise in curiosity, below is a poll on the planned ‘Ground Zero Mosque’ in New York. See this article for some background. Also, here is a previous post on the subject.

Poll: Arizona Immigration Law

Here’s a poll regarding Arizona’s controversial new immigration law. Keep in mind, this is not asking if you agree with the law or not. It’s asking if you believe the law violates the U.S. Constitution.

Poll: Cable News Viewing Habits

I was curious about others’ viewing habits. Also, I’m writing my graduate thesis on the broadcast fairness doctrine. So, consider this a test of your own personal fairness doctrine:

One Year of ‘Recovery’

To mark the one-year anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, here are some of my previous posts on the less-than stellar results of the “stimulus”:

• Government Waste on Display (June 16, 2009)
• Project This! (June 17, 2009)
• Your ‘Recovery’ Dollars at Work (October 20, 2009)
• Made-up Recovery (November 16, 2009)
• New Sales Pitch (January 15, 2010)
• High-Speed Spending? (January 30, 2010)
• ‘Funding’ Education (February 4, 2010)

Also of note is this recent CBS News/New York Times poll showing that only 6 percent of people think the stimulus package has actually created jobs. So much for bringing “hope” to the people.