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The interesting thing about this poll is that I can't find the breakdown of who was polled, ie: Democrats versus Republicans. That makes a big difference in results of a poll. The only thing offered close to numbers is:

Of those who say the country is on the right track in the AP-GfK poll, 73 percent are Democrats, 17 percent are independents and 10 percent are Republicans.

So how many Democrats, Republicans, and Independents were polled? Simple question. No answer. I don't believe a poll unless that information is provided. If 70% of those polled were Dems, then you have somewhat of a skewed result, right? :rolleyes:

Ohhhh... I DID find the numbers!! http://surveys.ap.org/data/GfK/AP-GfK%20Po...9_no%20trav.pdf

Initial Party ID

36% were Dems

18% were Reps

26% were Ind.

18% were None

Party Leaners ID

46% were Dems

28% were Reps

I wish we could get an ACCURATE representation of those polled... Skewed poll, Roman. Thanks for that.

B

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Yes, JB slipped up and said torture. I wonder if he will be able to get out of it.

Polls.........Could it be possible that more people align themselves with the Dem party. Are Repub party numbers slipping? Are polls more or less a random sample? I would think you ask the question first, then you get the demographics....thus more dems than repubs. But I think this is another area where you can spin the numbers to your liking. I have never participated in a political poll. I have never been called by Gallup, Rasmussen or any of them. I've been voting for 30+ yearsand have never been polled. I do think they can be used as indicatiors to show trends. Let's face it Pres Obama has good numbers and I believe people are happy with the direction the country is going. No one can say how long that will last. Our economic recovery will be long and slow and I think we need to exercise a little patience.

Torture......We allowed and used forms of torture that were outlawed by the Geneva convention. There is no denying it. Do we prosecute? I don't know, but I think we need to investigate and if that ivestigation deems that prosecution is warranted then so be it. I think it should be an independent investigation and that should be determined by the AG's office. But then again, we may not have a choice as the world's court may trump us.

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You always ask the right questions, UCLAN! I did a quick check and Rasmussen has some numbers, though I guess you could question those... but based on their information, which is a national sample and, of course, NOT reflective of national party registrations (maybe I'll see if I can find that later), they claim "baseline targets for adult population" is 40.1% Democrats and 33.1% Republican, with 26.7% Unaffiliated.

So, even taking those numbers, and comparing them to those that identified those polled as "leaners", the poll is definitely skewed and, I think, deceiving. Compare...

AP Poll Dems 46% -- Rasmussen Dems 40.1%

AP Poll Reps 28% -- Rasmussen Reps 33.1%

So, based on these numbers, AP shortchanged Republicans by some 5% points and favored polls Democrats 6%... a spread favoring Democrats and President Obama by 11%. I think that is a gross distortion of what the political landscape might be...

http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:4YczFE...=clnk&gl=us

B

Edited by GoldenDogs
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Folks can't stand the fact many feel Obama is doing a good job. They just can't stand it.

maybe they should keep listening to Dick Cheney.........o wait. He's trying to pull his ass from his mouth from all these lies he just got caught in.

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Hi Roman,

What I would love to see is some thoughtful analysis regarding those poll numbers, the 11% spread, and the obvious lean by AP and others. I'm perfectly fine "standing" the fact that many feel Obama is doing a good job. However, please forgive me for desiring accurate numbers and fair representation of the mood and opinions of those in America today. I would hope you aren't threatened by honest analysis.

http://hotair.com/archives/2009/04/24/rasm...-natl-security/

There is another poll. Is this one accurate, Roman, or does it get cast aside because it doesn't favor Obama?

I'm still waiting to see someone post someone about Obama, favorable coverage of Obama by NBC News, and General Electric's stake in wind energy... Perhaps a Google Search might turn something up... Piecing all of these things together right now...

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Not inserting into the other mess, just wanted to post this article. It is balanced to me and shows a fair measure of his first 100 days:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090426/pl_af..._20090426045715

Scorecard of Obama's campaign promises

Sun Apr 26, 12:56 am ET

WASHINGTON, (AFP) – President Barack Obama made hundreds of campaign promises on the road to the White House -- and has pressed ahead on several of the most high-profile in his first 100 days.

According to a scorecard of more than 500 campaign pledges collated on the Pulitzer Prize-winning website PolitiFact.com, Obama has kept 27 promises and broken six, but the vast majority are still a work in progress.

Among the major promises KEPT by the new Democratic leader:

-- Most combat troops are being pulled out of Iraq by August 2010 and all US forces are scheduled to leave by the end of 2011.

-- Extra troops are being dispatched to Afghanistan -- 21,000 this year -- and Pakistan is at the center of a new drive against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

-- A 75-billion-dollar fund has been created to help embattled homeowners.

-- New loans are coming on tap for small businesses.

-- A state health insurance scheme for children has been expanded.

-- Unemployment benefits have been enlarged.

-- Predecessor George W. Bush's restrictions on stem-cell research have been overturned.

-- Two Republicans are in the cabinet. Obama had promised at least one.

-- Curbs on travel and money transfers by Cuban-Americans to their communist-run homeland have been lifted.

-- And the Obama girls have a new puppy.

Obama has also made a start on rolling back Bush's "war on terror" policies by ordering the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention site and banning abusive interrogations of terror suspects that critics called "torture."

In foreign policy, Obama's pledges to engage with Iran and to reset ties with Russia remain in an embryonic phase. Tough talk on trade has not led to any action against China or America's NAFTA partners Canada and Mexico.

But the president did make good on a vow to deliver a speech in an Islamic capital in his first 100 days during a recent visit to Turkey.

Among promises BROKEN:

-- US recognition of the Ottoman Empire's "genocide" during World War I against Armenians. Obama avoided the word during his stay in Turkey and in a message on Armenian Remembrance Day.

-- A ban on former lobbyists working in the White House has been waived for at least three staffers.

-- Obama's popular pledge to scrap income tax for seniors earning less than 50,000 dollars a year did not figure in his huge economic stimulus package.

-- Also missing from the stimulus bill and subsequent proposals has been a promised tax credit of 3,000 dollars for companies adding full-time workers.

Other promises are classed by PolitiFact.com as STALLED with administration officials talking down prospects for action. Those include ending the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays serving in the military.

Neither is there any sign of Obama's promised windfall tax on giant oil company profits, with energy prices well off their record highs of last year amid the global economic crunch.

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And another:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090426/ts_af..._20090426050150

Obama dominates in first 100 days

by Stephen Collinson Stephen Collinson – Sun Apr 26, 1:01 am ET

WASHINGTON, (AFP) – In his high-velocity first 100 days, Barack Obama has sketched the outlines of a presidency of astounding ambition, which would remake the United States at home and transform its role abroad.

Yet the new president's agenda still faces tests of fire posed by a punishing economic crisis, the scheming of US allies and foes abroad and a poisoned political environment back home.

"It is clearly the most ambitious agenda at least since the 1960s," said Princeton University historian and political scientist Julian Zelizer.

Inheriting a crisis of a magnitude few recent precessors faced, Obama seems to have steadied America's nerves despite the wrenching financial blight.

He unleashed a huge government intervention in the economy, passed a historic 787-billion-dollar stimulus bill and now has high-stakes environmental and healthcare reforms on the launchpad.

Abroad, Obama swapped George W. Bush's swagger for a cupped ear, giving Russia respect it craves, reaching out to Muslims and vowing to drain decades of enmity with foes Cuba and Iran.

He previewed fundamental policy changes towards China, Mexico and Cuba, apologized to Europeans for past US "arrogance," mandated the closure of Guantanamo Bay, outlawed torture and ordered withdrawal from Iraq.

Obama doubled down in Afghanistan and Pakistan, ditched US denial on climate change and called for a world free of nuclear weapons.

Tom De Luca, professor of political science at Fordham University, said Obama's foreign policy was "breathtaking in its scope."

"I think it clearly illustrates the immense self confidence Obama has in himself and in his administration."

Obama, 47, once panned by rivals as inexperienced, slipped on the mantle of president with ease, in unflappable style.

Despite missteps on cabinet nominations and the fallout of Bush-era terror interrogations, his team has mostly dominated the political message.

The result: Obama is carrying the American people with him. Fifty-six percent in a USA Today/Gallup poll said he had done an excellent or good job.

A Fox News poll gave Obama a job approval rating of 62 percent, though like other surveys, found a sharp gap between Democrats and Republicans.

But talking about change is easy, effecting it is not: Obama admits America is a "big ocean liner -- it's not a speedboat; it doesn't turn around immediately."

He has yet to face a full-scale foreign crisis, and will face rising pressure to lift many families out of economic misery.

Many initiatives, including engaging Iran, battling the global crisis and subduing North Korea also depend on events and actors outside Obama's control.

For example, despite a euphoric welcome, Obama failed to crown a Europe trip this month with large numbers of new NATO troops for Afghanistan.

But the White House says results take time and exuded satisfaction after a Latin American summit last week.

"President Obama has on his first two foreign trips changed the image of America around the world through leadership and engagement that advances our national interests, makes us safer and more secure and stronger," his spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

Despite a fast start, eased by Democratic majorities in Congress and a demoralized Republican party, it is unclear whether Obama's political touch will endure on divisive issues like healthcare and climate change.

"He is going to have to deal with that ambitious agenda in the totally polarized domestic political environment," said Zelizer.

Debate still simmers over whether Obama is trying too much, too soon.

"It?s not so much a question of whether he?s bitten off more than he can chew, but whether it may be too much for Congress to chew and swallow this year," Bush's final press secretary Dana Perino said.

Obama aides counter that in dire times, the administration cannot afford not to attack all America's problems at once.

On the model of Franklin Roosevelt, whose frenetic first days in office in 1933 enshrined the 100 days formula, Obama adopted an experimental approach to rescuing shattered banks and frozen credit markets.

The stimulus bill, packed with spending on everything from high speed trains to rebuilding schools, also included tax cuts and was twinned by a simultaneous multi-billion dollar plan to aid the foreclosure-sapped mortgage market.

But Republicans warn Obama will bankrupt future Americans, eyeing his 3.5 trillion dollar budget and deficits even the White House says will reach 1.7 trillion dollars this year.

**************************************

This from that article is the one thing that has bothered me over the last few weeks:

Everyone talked about having a President that the world could be proud of again. And Obama got up there and gave speeches and even to my heartbreak said he was not happy with some of the decisions his Country had made in recent years. Almost as if to me he was groveling to the world saying he was ashamed of America. I know he wasn't groveling but it came off that way to me.

And yet he does all this and still comes away with no more support for his war than Bush did.

No matter what America does the world is going to do what they want too anyway. Maybe they will turn around and say later they will send troops to help out but right now it looks like the same old same old to me. Again proving to me it doesn't matter what party is in there it's all politics all the same.

Back to the articles I am proud of some things that Obama has done and I am not proud of a lot of what he has done. His speeches overseas being the biggest one to me. I have a hard time with those things in my mind.

To me I feel about his first 100 days the same as I did Bush's - some good, some bad.

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I see a little good... a lot of bad. Our credibility on the world stage has been severely damaged. I'm waiting for the next Obama misstep... perhaps ice skating with Putin? Speaking of torture, watching all of this HAS been torture!

And I see no hard-hitting analysis has been forthcoming regarding the two posts I dropped above. Interesting...

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Talk about misleading headlines, that headline of the article posted above - something about Fox network being too critical of Obama. Boy is that one misleading.

Quote from the article:

The latest weekly News Interest Index survey, conducted April 17-20 by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, finds a substantial partisan divide in views of how TV news networks cover Obama. More than four-in-ten Democrats (44%) say Fox has been too critical of Obama, compared with 25% of independents and just 18% of Republicans. No other network comes close to Fox, though 11% overall – including 18% of Democrats – say CNN has been too critical of the president. Very few Americans cite the broadcast networks – ABC (4%), NBC (4%) or CBS (3%) – as too critical.

I might put some confidence in the article if an overwhelming majority of Independents had said they were or even if a biased group of researchers or focus group did. But with them asking members of each party and separating it by Party Lines - of course they are going to come up with the headline they did. I have never met a Democrat who did not think that Fox News wasn't too hard on any Democrat much less Obama.

So wow they broke some real news there. None of those results surprise me at all.

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:D

Give me a break, it was the weekend....Laker basketball.

Let's see. First link...Obama approval....conservativce website...what would I expect. Remember, I feel that polls can be spun also. That was just another viewpoint. I think some articles extract data to fit their purpose

Second link....very interesting. I was not aware of that decision. It apears to be an enhancement of Miranda. I could not pull up the actual case, so I really can't comment. As long as Miranda remains intact, I don't see a cause for alarm. My own personal feelings regarding our justice system cloud my response.

I feel that Steve Frame seeded the best and most objective articles. They outlined the president's 100 days very clearly. I feel that he has done a very good job. I think he has put his agenda in place and is working towards an outcome. He has not been perfect, but who is. Our country is moving in a different direction. Some may not agree with it but then that is the nature of democracy. If people are unhappy with their choices, they will register that displeasure in the next election cycle. I think someone stared 100 days is a hallmark moment. It's a deadline we created. In terms of working for our country I think the president has our best interests at heart.

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