45 Replies to “Talking To Obama Voters”

  1. Well, I did find this interesting and illustrative – however I think the exercise would be far more illuminating by having a panel of “average Americans” quizzed about both candidates, and the governing system of the US.
    I take no schadenfreude in watching this, I recently asked my daughters a variety of questions regarding geography, history, etc, and was surprised by their lack of interest and knowledge of facts.

  2. 55% of those quizzed were college grads.
    If i remember correctly, something like 97% were high school grads.
    They were actually asked questions about both candidates and the Government.
    They quizzed over 500 people.
    I think this says more about where they get their knowledge (or lack of it) from.
    Jon Stewart for Gods sake!!! Bill Maher.
    There needs to be a license for voters. Cant vote unless you can demonstrate at least a rudimentary knowledge of the issues and of Government.

  4. That’s horrifying! Incidentally I don’t blame the voters as much as I blame the media for gross misreporting and underreporting (although the voters really should get better informed). If McCain/Palin got elected, apparently everything would have been Sarah’s fault! Or the Republicans because they control Congress !
    How sad.
    We have the CBC as the official news organ of the LieBeral Party of Canada and the US has CNN/NPR/MSNBC/CBS as the official spokespeople of the Democratic party.

  5. This finally makes something make sense to me.
    For a year now, I’ve been hearing that Congresses approval rating was at 10%. So why would the Democrats (who were running Congress for the last 2 years) get re-elected???
    Because voters thought that the Republicans were running Congress (see first batch of the interviews).
    What a sad example of Democracy gone bad.

  7. I saw this clip yesterday via hotair. A lot of people miss the point of the exercise – it’s not all about “see…Obama voters are stupid.”

  8. It is true that the MSM leans to the left, but does this matter given that Fox News has one of the largest viewerships, or that Rush Limbaugh has 10 million listeners?
    The truth is that people don’t pay attention to politics and politicians unless there is a juicy story. For instance, glaring (percieved) hypocrisy. The ‘hockey mom’ who spends 150,000 dollars on clothes is always going to stick out more than the old lady in Congress who speaks pretty unitelligble gibberish. A social conservative with a pregnant teenage daughter is always going to be more visible than a condescending old guy who sounds like every other guy in the capital (Reid).
    It’s really quite simple. Ask any of these Obama voters (or voters in general) about Hillary’s Medicare or Bush’s education policy and they won’t be able to give you the correct answer. Ask them about Lewinsky, and all of them will identify Bill. Is the media to blame for this? Nah, its the market. The media don’t shy away from stating who Pelosi is and what she does. They also throw in the rather cynically titled ‘human interest’ stories.
    It is a North American thing. Contrast CNN International to CNN America and the difference is shocking. Alas, it is what the people want.
    “There needs to be a license for voters.”
    Really? Every democracy deserves its rulers. If the country is full of uninformed idiots, then that it certainly deserves what it gets. Yes we can. Whatever that means.
    Newspapers report a lot of stories. What the reader takes away from it is the reader’s problem.
    Bacardi,
    Consider following the news sometime. CNN was pretty balanced in its coverage. NBC (whom you dont even mention) is Obamas personal media team. O’Reilly agrees with me on both counts.

  9. I’d like to see the same thing done with a sampling of Republican voters. I’m betting that the answers would be just as wrong.
    This isn’t an indication of stupidity, and although I believe that there was a fair deal of partisanship expressed by the media I think it speaks more to the voters ideals. You always remember those facts that support your position and don’t necessarily remember the facts that don’t.
    In addition with media outlets expressing the same sorts of bias you find in the public, is it any wonder that an Obama supporter would seek out and read the NYT while a Republican watches Fox News?

  11. The video is living proof !!
    A corrupt media pushes what the media wants us to know. A corrupt media sits on information the media does not want us to know.
    Lesson ? If you do not read/watch the news, you will be uninformed. If you do, you will be misinformed. Intentionally.

  12. all this does for me is reinforces that the media has far too much power during campaigns and they know it.
    How do you think Canadians would fare based on the federal election just passed? Would be a great study for someone, somewhere.

  13. Once upon a time, there used to be a literacy requirement for voters in many states (this was normally in the south, as a way of preventing blacks from voting); this was rightfully struck down, but given some of these peoples’ responses, I’m starting to think that SOME sort of knowledge requirement would be a good thing.

  14. zip zogby put out the challenge to anyone who would do a counter poll on mcain supporters and he would pay for their poll if they could demonstrate the same lack of knowledge about the issues. No takers so far and only one inquiry.

  15. “The man who reads nothing is more educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.”
    Thomas Jefferson
    Alls what this video shows me is the McCain campaign was ineffective at getting their message out. I’m in the camp that thinks the MSM is corrupt, and helped the O get elected hoping/knowing that money, and sanctions on the internet and Fox news would be coming down the pike. Regardless of the handicap, McCain didn’t get his message out to the majority of the electorate. I believe a knowledgeable electorate wouldn’t have elected the O; but, that’s just my opinion.

  17. Listening to these video comments was a saddening experience, and certainly fodder for those who would push for some sort of proof of voter competency. However, the thrust of the video (and, I assume, the upcoming documentary) is the media influence and deliberate bias during the past election, with a nod to the type of uninformed voter that was attracted to the Obama camp. We all know how people like Rick Mercer edit and cherry pick the comments they want in order to enhance the message they wish to communicate. Was any of that done here? In order to avoid accusations of Mercer like methodology, I wish this pollster had done a parallel study of McCain voters.
    I agree with Zip that most of us tend to seek out media that reflects our own views; that is why I visit this site so often. However, I honestly (perhaps naively) feel that a similar poll of McCain voters would have yielded quite different results, as I believe that most Obama voters were voting for an image or aura, rather than specific policies, and, while I acknowledge bias on conservative media such as this blog, I feel that groups like Fox are more even-handed than other news outlets. The reason they (Fox, SDA, etc.)are portrayed as being right wing is that so many other media providers have become so ridiculously left wing.
    However, on an equally sad note as the incompetence displayed in the video, did the MSM and Obama win this election, or did the GOP simply lose it? I believe that Obama was elected for all the wrong reasons, but would McCain have been elected for any noble reasons, or just to prevent the Dems from having a total sweep this term? If I were an American voting GOP, would I have been “salivating to vote for this guy” (to quote Dennis Miller on a different topic) or simply voting while holding my nose in the hopes of preventing something else?

  18. There is only one solution to this.
    A moratorium on political news reporting in TELEVISION.
    This way, citizens must either READ (newspaper) or LISTEN (radio) to news not simply ABSORB (television) thirty second sounds bites.

  19. “The reason they (Fox, SDA, etc.)are portrayed as being right wing is that so many other media providers have become so ridiculously left wing.”
    Exactly
    As I often say, conservatives must not allow everyone but conservatives to define what conservative is; and, we’ve done a miserable job thus far.

  20. Lesson ? If you do not read/watch the news, you will be uninformed.
    ~ron in kelowna
    I disagree.
    I haven’t watched TV or read newspapers since the year 2000 and I’m very well informed about important issues.
    However, I watch my acquaintances with a gaping expression on my face when they parrot the latest pop culture fads. The have no idea how silly they look and will have forgotten they ever acted or looked that way inside of 2 years.

  21. Sorry ZIB.
    What you have failed to notice. We are told over and over that dem’s are so smart. (Obama, Kerry. Gore, Clinton and others)
    Yet this video proves otherwise.

  22. Hay adrian, the author of this poll, John Ziegler, has an open challenge:
    “On Fox News Monday night I challenged anyone to commission the same poll of McCain voters and if McCain voters as badly, or worse, I will pay their expenses. If not, they have to pay mine. One serious inquiry has been made, but I doubt they will have the guts to follow through.”
    Check it out. johnziegler.com

  23. Oz, yes, I agree !! That saying was coined BEFORE the Internet.
    Just the other day, a friend, a very smart friend, was remarking on Obama’s rise. I asked if she had heard of Ayers, Wright, Barney Frank, Pelosi, the 57 states, telepromterless talks, ect ??? Blank stare. Had never heard of none of that.
    Only mistake – media the only source of information.
    PS: But she did know a lot about Palin’s wardrobe 🙂

  25. who said that canada has a president-Barack Obama.
    who said that he has to visit 57states-Barack Obama.

  26. “The truth is that people don’t pay attention to politics and politicians unless there is a juicy story.”
    If Palin had said there are 57 states, everyone of them would have known about it. Same with plagiarism, get opponents kicked off the ballot, questionable associations. It really came down to the media not reporting issues that might hurt Obama-Biden.

  27. Reviewing the tape proves that the intense topic on Sarah Palin is simply to derail the truths about OBAMA and radical groups he associates with.
    The blame falls solely on the media for manipulating the truth about OBAMA.
    How many african american will feel for being made fools of which the media did an excellent job in doing.
    One thing the media fail to know is that foreign medias will ask Obama damaging questions regarding to his relationship with radical groups and no liberal media will beable protect OBAMA.
    Bottom line is, the liberal media manipulated the public.

  28. For those of you looking for an equivalent test of McCain voters, consider the control questions. Nearly everyone knew the answer when the answer was “Palin”, even when it was Tina Fey playing Palin on SNL. Pregnant daughter? Check. Money on clothes? Check. See Russia? Check. Ziegler’s point is not that Obama voters are stupid. It is that that they were poorly served by the news media they depended on.
    McCain voters, I strongly suspect, would score much higher. After all, they must have had some reason to reject the Anointed One.

  29. I found this in the comments following the links to where Zeigler is attacked on a dem blog:
    “Also, as for the “twist”, there were four candidates to choose from. And what we learnt from college was to choose the BEST answer, which is Sarah Palin.
    Sigh”
    Ahhh yes…these people were duped by these questions.The ‘best answer’, not the correct answer.
    See…it’s all relative!
    Hope that kid doesn’t end up in med school!

  30. Observer’s got it right. This wasn’t about stupidity, it was about media presentation.
    The congrsssional question proved that the media deliberately keep the party identity quiet to not adversely affect the Dems and Obama.
    Barney Frank, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid. Frank obstructed any action against Fannie and Freddie that may have limited the Wall Street collapse. Yet where is his coverage? Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, leader and speaker in the house with the lowest ever approval rating. Yet the three names names are barely spoken and their party affiliation is largely kept out of the news.
    The clothes and pregnant daughter thing? Easy answer, and easy smears. Easy news. At least the one young lady said that, “You gotta look pretty, right?”
    The Alaska thing proved that pop culture is much more important than news coverage to voters. Is it their fault? Is it Palin’s fault she’s accused of beign a dimwit because an actress prtrayed her as one? GWB all over again, obviously.
    The remaining questions are all about media rug-lifting and sweeping. Dishonesty. Blatant hiding of the facts and misdirection.
    I’m impressed with the one lady who admitted, “I’m not as informed as I thought I was.” That’s the first step — admitting you have a problem. The next step is harder, though — trying to fix it.

  31. How about a “fairness” doctrine for Print and TV news?
    Of course, I’d prefer dropping a few MOABs on each of the NYT, CNN, NBC/CNBC, CBS, LA Times, Wash.Post, etc.

  32. In a democracy with universal suffrage everybody has the right to be uninformed and the right to vote.
    Candidates need to look around and understand that the majority get their information from People magazine and TV shows that require a maximum attention span of thirty seconds… Saturday night live, Colbert etc. Policy is boring, slightly scandalous stuff…pregnat unmarried teens, how many houses do you own, $150,000 wardrobe budgets rocks with this section of the electorate. Tailor your message accordingly and DO NOT piss off your core constituency with policy more attuned to Democratic party values.
    The vote split was what 53% to 48%? this is not insurmountable.
    Its a sad state when democracy is dumbed down so far but deal with realities and campaign accordingly.

  33. The respondents didn’t seem to have any difficulty repeating any of the crap about Sarah Palin that the jackals in the media trotted out. I don’t think anyone can claim that they were completely ignorant.
    Also there’s going to be some “antiprocess” going on as well. Most of them probably believe “bush is evil” (whether he is or not is beside the point for the sake of discussion) and therefore not-bush is “good”. Obama represents “change” is the message everyone has been bombarded with…change from “evil-bush”, until that becomes a “truth” according to the collective consciousness. So when “bad” is presented as a characteristic of the obama-savior, even if it makes it through the media filters, most will simply block it out because it doesn’t fit with what they believe and have been led to believe.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiprocess

  34. Luckily for the Americans the Dems haven’t figure out how to force Americans to pay for media they don’t want. At least in the US you can cancel you subscription to the left’s propaganda machines.

  35. Who got Obama elected everyones favorite afternoon hero celebrity,,richest woman in America OPRAH!! seriously.

  36. This is so sad. I fear for the future of Democracy.
    I bet the McCain side was not much better.

  37. It’s 1930 Germany all over again. Keep repeating the same lies over and over again and suddenly the people will believe the lies. Those who don’t will dispatched.
    If we forget our history we will be doomed to repeat it.

  38. Scary!The problem is conservatives never get the stupid vote. This is a demorgraphic all conservatives need to cultivate,how much does it cost to buy a newspaper or tv network in a depression or a polling company. We already own CBC time for reprograming.

  39. The “Fairness Doctrine” sounds like a good parking spot for all our soon-to-be umeployed “Human Rights” commissions.

  40. I don’t know why anyone is surprised by the results of this poll. Earlier, while the campaign was on, someone went and interviewed black Obama supporters (I think this was posted on SDA; someone with a better memory might remind me..), and asked them questions about specific policies, which the interviewers attributed to Obama, such as more restrictions on abortion, maintaining tax cuts, and keeping troops in Iraq, but were in fact McCain policies. The interviewer would describe the policy, say that Sen. Obama supported it, and asked if the interviewee would still vote for Obama. “Sure” was the unanimous response. Anyone who doesn’t think a majority of black voters supported Obama just because he was black is incredibly naive or underinformed, or both.

  41. I’ll give the spectacled girl in the pink sweater a pass. she at least admitted she wasn’t as informed as she thought she was. The rest of the Obamabots in this video should rightfully have their ability to vote revoked.
    Some of the questions bordered on obscure. But to not know who Bill Ayers is is downright ludicrous.

  42. Good grief, Canadians know more about their leaders than they do!

    I really wish my Canadian brethren would drop this canard about Canucks being so much smarter and better educated than Americans. This just is not true and I defy you to produce any proof otherwise. On what evidence do you base this on?

    On the contrary, I think that Canadians by and large are quite ignorant of facts in their own backyard. If you asked the average Canadian if they voted for the Prime Minister, they would say yes, but the PM does not appear on any ballot and is indeed appointed by the Queen. If you were to ask the average Ontarian what the capital of their province is, they would most likely answer Ottawa! If you were to ask the average Canuck if they live in a democratic country, they would reply yes, even though no Canadian leaders outside of Mayor are elected and Canada is official a closed parliamentary monarchy.

  43. Not that surprised. Many Americans are insular to an incredible extent regarding national politics and view everything on a local patronage driven level. If the local congressman and senator can build up enough seniority to have a say in where government contracts and government jobs wind up, that is one thing that really grabs voters, the rest of it could be happening in Hollywood for all they care.
    I once missed a turn in Flint, Michigan, on a trip out west and stopped at a gas station to gas up and get directions back to the highway going north. I asked the people there how to get to the highway which would take me up north to the MacKinac Bridge (the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time which connects N and S Michigan). Nobody knew what bridge I was talking about!

  44. These interviews go a long way towards illustrating the effects of a left wing media bias. Most of the media in the US is undeniably liberal. And yet, I read in the on-line version of the Vancouver Sun how Pew research declared that during the past election period, the media had no bias. Astounded, I looked for the by-line. It was a Reuters piece, preprinted as NEWS, verbatum. Digging further, I read the Pew research on which the piece claimed to base its premises. Pew research had actually concluded PRECISELY THE OPPOSIT AND EVEN CITED THE FIGURES.
    So easy to print lies. Just fail to do your job as a “news” paper and reprint crap put out by a flat out liberal lier. No wonder the general public is uninformed or informed by lies. It could be lazyness or it could be liberal bias. Either way it is lies. And THAT does make a difference.
    “The Medium IS the message”…Or as McLuhan prefered, “The Medium is the MASSAGE”

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