I promised myself I wouldn't write another political post anytime soon but here I am four weeks after the last one and I'm breaking my word. Don't worry, I promise it's not going to be a rant type post that will burn your eyeballs out if you support the Republican ticket. A telephone call from a pollster made me change my mind. At first I thought, Hell no! I'm not taking part in a political poll. But then I remembered how many times I've wondered, who are these people that take those polls? The media loves quoting them.
Edited to add: The poll itself was taken the morning of the last day of the convention, before Trump's speech and the Kid Rock and Hulk Hogan performances. And this post was written two days before Biden dropped out of the race.
I must say the pollster was very professional. She didn't try to lead me in any particular direction and she didn't react in any way to my answers. It was a long poll taking over 25 minutes. The questions started with the basics: my age, sex, level of education, income, marital status and race. She asked who I voted for in the last election, how likely am I to vote in the next. Did I belong to a union? What are my views on abortion? Then it got down to the nitty-gritty of the call. Did I see any of the Republican convention? "Yes, most of it." Did I see any of the coverage of Trump getting shot? "Yes." Did it make you more likely or less likely to vote for him or no change? "No change." How much do you know about J.D. Vance? And she listed some multi-choice answers. I picked the one that I'd never heard of him before Trump picked him for his Vice President.
She asked me what two things about the convention stood out the most. I wanted to joke that all the people wearing sympathy patches on their ears cracked me up. Oops, they call them solidarity patches.
My answer about my second take-away from the convention was about how much I hated seeing Nikki Haley's speech. That I used to like her and thought she's was a good person to have in government, but her reversal in now kissing Trump's butt after months of saying he's unfit for office proves her values and moral compass can be bought off. (I've since learned that Vance did the same, exact thing.) What I didn’t tell the pollster is the night that J.D. Vance spoke I sat down to watch the convention and I fell asleep while he was on! So there may have been other, more noteworthy take-aways for me if I hadn't slept through his appearance. I did catch some of the highlights later that night but I've been watching both the Republican and Democratic conventions with every election since they've been televised so I felt bad about missing an important part of this one.
After the questions about the Republicans the pollster started in on Biden. She didn't ask me if I thought he should drop out of the race and that omission seemed telling to me. A hint about who contracted the poll? I asked that question but the pollster she said they are not given that information. She did ask me about six other Democrats going up against Trump and how I would vote. For example if the election was between Harris and Trump which one would I pick? If you're a long time reader of this blog you'll know I wouldn't vote for Trump if he was running for the county dog catcher. Which reminds me there was a funny meme on Facebook about Babydog, the bulldog that the governor of West Virginia was pulling around the convention floor in a cart. The meme said something about him keeping the dog away from Kristi Noem, the woman who was on Trump's short list for V.P. She's the North Dakota governor who bragged in her autobiography about how she shot the family's 18 month old puppy in a gravel pit because "he was untrainable." She thought it made her look like she was strong enough to make the tough decisions but it just made her look thickheaded for not taking the advice of her editor and others telling her not to include it. Even after they pointed out the uproar that Mitt Romney caused when a photo surfaced of him on vacation with the family dog in a cage strapped on top of his station wagon, she wouldn't back down about putting the puppy killing in her book. Killing that dog also made her look cold-hearted for not re-homing it to someone who just wanted a family pet and not a hunting dog.
There was only one question I refused to answer and the pollster came back to it three times before giving up. It was the one about do you think the country is headed in the right direction. I've always hated that question because 'the right direction' is too ambiguous. If you answer 'no' they assume you are not happy with the party currently in power. But I think you can say 'no' meaning you're not happy with how the government in general has become so Tribal and how 'compromise' has become a dirty word. We've been on that trend since 2010 when Mitch McConnell announced to the world that his job as senate minority leader was to make sure that Obama was a one term president. That's when the party quit representing the people who elected them and the Cult of Personality was born in the Republican Party. ©
Until Next Wednesday....
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| No matter how you vote, you've got to admit this meme is funny, given the fact that both Trump and Vance have immigrant wives |
THANK YOU for doing this best political post. I'm not sure I could have answered so succinctly and gotten my point across. I love all those memes! Reading up on Kamala and her history and I think she should be nominated!
ReplyDeleteFrom my understanding they did a straw poll of the Biden delegates and enough of them are willing to switch to Harris to give the nomination to her. They will start the actual count very soon so they'll know before their convention. And the big donators are behind her. I'm excited!
DeleteIt was Kristi Noem, governor of S Dakota, who shot her puppy in the gravel pit, not Kari Lake. She was widely considered to be on a short list for a VP pick until that came to light.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the only parts of the RNC I watched were the briefest of clips I saw online. I cannot stomach any more. You are made of sterner stuff than I.
Thanks so much for the fact check! I've edited my post to reflect that name change. Thankfully you read me early enough in the day that most people coming here to read didn't see my mistake.
DeleteI multitasked while the convention was on and all the coverage since Biden pulled out of the race.
Sad about Biden but encouraged about the support that's being given Harris. This family votes blue!
ReplyDeleteHistory will treat Biden like the selfless hero he was for dropping out, especially if Harris wins. Still, it must have been really hard. We are the same age and I know what it's like to want to do things before I die and knowing I can't physically or mental achieve my bucket list.
DeleteI’ve always wondered about who the pollsters are calling, too. I remember a few calls I had years ago on my landline but no longer have it. I am elderly and very protective of my iPhone information and don’t answer calls from numbers I don’t recognize. If they’re legitimate I expect them to leave a voice mail message. I would relish the opportunity to answer a call like this. Do you have any clue why you finally had a call? Ex. Recent donation not previously made, communication via email or text with some political organization? (MS Nell)
ReplyDeleteNo clue. I delete any text massages from people wanting support of any kind from both parties. I don't donate online. In the past month I've gotten a couple of robocall calls from people who assume I'm a Republican. Never had that in my entire life. I did make a small donation to Chris Christie's campaign but that was forever ago.
DeleteAs I read, my respect for your polite answers grew. I would have ranted on what a demon trump is. I LOVE the immigrant meme and hope it goes viral. I saw Kamala’s speech in Wisconsin yesterday and it was dynamite! Classy, upbeat, forward looking. A few great rump zingers but not ugly or profane the way he does things. What a breath of fresh air!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if I’m ever called for a poll. We don’t answer calls unless we know who it is.
I always answer my phone when the caller is unknown for several reasons. 1) a lot of doctor's offices call, 2) a lot of my fellow residents call, 3) I get bored and know how to hang up the phone without saying anything, 4) I've been known to play with the people who pretend to be my grandson who needs money---I get bored and 4) I don't want sales people or political people to fill up my voice mail.
DeleteThe meme about the immigrant wives is already viral. I love it too.
I saw Kamala's rally speech too and she is dynamic. I can't wait to see her debate Trump. I've always loved politics until Trump came along and now I sense my old love affair with the political arena is coming back.
One of my nieces on my husband's side has already posted on Facebook that Kamala is a "pile of shit." She's not going to turn any Trump supports Blue. Our security guard feels the same way. But no one by the grim reaper could do that.
Regarding the meme about the immigrant wives of Trump and Vance: I am a reader from a border state who has seen our public schools overrun and hospitals that have had to close due to illegal immigration. Both Trump and Vance married women who entered the country legally. It is so unfair to those who are following the rule of law. Laws set by our government considering how many and how much we can handle. If we took the tax dollars we spend on the illegal immigrants we could benefit our own legal citizens who pay taxes. I know it is not as easy for some northern states to actually experience what we in the border states have had to deal with for many many years but to just dismiss the problems due to illegal immigration is turning a blind eye to serious difficulties.
DeleteI dissent.
DeleteFrom The Washington Post by Catherine Rampell:
"Last fall, you might recall, Republican lawmakers refused to pass funding for Ukraine and Israel unless Democrats agreed to “tough” border security measures. Lankford, one of the Senate’s more conservative members, negotiated on the GOP conference’s behalf, and he drove a hard bargain.
Lankford got President Biden and Democrats to agree to revive a version of the controversial Title 42 border expulsion policy, which would shut down much of the asylum system without even the fig leaf of needing a “public health emergency.” It also included more personnel for Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (one reason the major Border Patrol union endorsed it) and a stricter, faster process for adjudicating asylum claims. Progressives decried many of the asylum measures as inhumane.
Notably, the deal contained none of Democrats’ standard immigration priorities, such as providing permanent legal status for “dreamers,” the young undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children.
So it was pretty much a clean sweep for Republican priorities in exchange for aid to Ukraine and Israel.
We all know what happened next: Former president Donald Trump realized the bill might be too effective at addressing border issues, which the presumed Republican presidential nominee hoped to continue exploiting for political gain heading into the election. So he told his followers to kill their own deal.
Sometimes, alas, a problem is more valuable than its cure."
Anonymous: I don't think anyone is dismissing the problems of illegal immigration, just the methods for resolving it. We can blame both sides of the aisle for not getting comprehensive immigration reform.
DeleteAs for Melina Trump being a legal immigrate---that's debatable. She got in on an Einstein visa for "individuals of extraordinary gifts." But at the point her life the most extraordinary thing she did in life was pose naked, girl-on-girl for soft-porn magazines.
Texas Trail Park: Thank you for sharing that. It's important that we keep reminding people what it looks like to be governed by a Cult of Personalities.
I would suggest looking further into the facts instead of quoting The Washington Post. What the Dems proposed would barely put a dent in the numbers that are pouring over the border. It was only a drop in the bucket and not a viable solution. We must remind ourselves to not parrot whatever news/media outlet we follow but to dig further into facts.....if we can ever really find them. I am pretty sure this isn't the venue for our political discussions so that is all I will say on the matter because I do enjoy reading this blog and do not want to get crosswise with our honored blogger.
DeletePoint taken. Except I will say one last thing. That last bill had bipartisan support and would have passed until Trump told them not to put it up for an up or down vote because he wanted to run on the border issue.
Delete"The facts" remain that the bill would have some positive effects on the border situation and carried the imprimatur of the GOP before Trump said to kill it to benefit his campaign. So that was that.
DeleteI would love to be contacted! Love it. And very interesting your assessment of the poll and person taking it. One thing -- it wasn't Kari Lake AZ with the dog shooting but Kristi Noem (gov. SD) who shot the dog. I think Meyers and Colbert are still having fun with that story weeks later (Not Babydog -- maybe that too -- but Noem and the gravel pit!)
ReplyDeleteI corrected the Lake/Noem thing. Hopefully before too many people saw it.
DeleteFunny thing, my name must have gotten passed around as someone who answers polls because I got another call this morning but this one wasn't nearly as unbias. I quickly started answering 'no opinion' to everything because it was clear that it was commissioned by Mike Rogers. She thanked me for allowing her to read all the questions even though I told her from now on this is going to be my answer. I guess they can't use uncompleted polls.
They picked the right person or rang the right phone when you answered. I admire you for your willingness to take the call as I usually hang up on them but you have given me courage to take the call. We are in unknown times as the things that have happened in a weeks time are unreal. Hold on folks, things about to get really thrilling🇺🇸
ReplyDeleteI have followed politics closely my entire adult life and I can't remember a time when it's been as exciting to follow the news as it as been this past week! I've been on a high every since Biden passed the torch to a new generation.
DeleteI'm a fellow political junkie and am jealous of you getting to answer a poll. :-) I did a couple back when we had a land line, but I haven't had one in a while. Great conversation in the comments, and I have to agree that no one is minimizing the immigration problem -- but neither party has been able to find a solution until this year and then Trump "made" the GOP ditch it. He is such a small man.
ReplyDeleteI am hearing a LOT of enthusiasm for Harris and the money and new volunteers is telling. I also heard John Kasich today saying that when they go after her for being a woman or a POC, they are going to inflame a lot of people. The shots at her smiling and laughing are so irritating. The opposite of men telling women to smile more for years. And if anyone doubts she is tough, just call up her little question and answer with Kavanaugh. He looked like he was going to vomit. LOL.
Did you hear the latest? Vance went after Harris for not having any kids. I guess to him stepchildren don't count. He said childless women don't have the same stake in the future of our country. He even made a crack about single women with cats that going to come back to bite him, especially if he keeps on that theme and the Taylor Swift fans start defending women who have three cats like she does. I'm offended on behave of all of us biologically challenged women. We still care about the future of our country where our nieces and nephews have to live, for crying out loud. And just because it's the right thing to do.
DeleteHonestly, they are grasping at straws to find things to throw at her. The knives are out.
DeleteI love it that nothing is getting any traction.
DeleteAs someone who is not biologically challenged, just chose to be childless, I'd like Mr. Vance to know that not only do my husband and I care about the future of our country, we and millions of other childless adults have paid way more taxes in our lifetime than the breeders he so desperately thinks own the country. Someone has to pay the bills! Maybe he's confused because his boss has never actually paid any taxes.
DeleteJ.D. Vance ticked off so many segments of society with that rant of his that he'll never dig he was out of it.---cat owners, childless couples by choice, biologically challenged couples, couples struggling to have children, single women with and without cats, women with dogs even, gay couples, adopted parents. The more he tries to explain the deeper he digs his hole.
DeleteI always wanted to be called to answer a poll. Come to think of it, maybe I have been called. I'd never know because I don't answer the phone unless I know the caller. Lots of the emails I get start out as though they want your opinion, and I know they only want a contribution. I've foolishly started them sometimes only to be disappointed.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't seen that last picture of the man with the flag on his ear. LOL.
I'm excited about Kamala Harris. I'm the same age as Biden, which in my opinion is too old to be president.
Those polls you get in the mail from the parties do want money but they also want to know how the little people feel about the issues. That way they can tailor the campaigns around the issues people who are in the party actually care about.
DeleteI'm Biden's age too and agree that job is too much for someone in their 80's to keep up with. With him passing the torch the way he did she can use him for his expertise if she needs a sounding board in the future. No hard feelings between them...you can hear it in their voices that they genuinely like each other.
Political pollsters are not a thing here, and I had never heard of them till I watched the West Wing TV Show. I had a call like that I would be ok answering their questions unlike some I know who would not and might even be rude to the person calling which I do not approve of.
ReplyDeleteI'm quite sure it's a very hard job and they take a lot of verbal abuse. The number of hang ups would do me in. I was quite surprised it was an actually person on the phone, and not a robocall survey.
DeleteA long time ago I volunteered to make calls in a political election. I had on headphones and as soon as the current call disconnected, the phone autodialed the next number. It was tough duty! But at least back then, people answered the phone. I tried that volunteer job again in the last election and had to do my own dialing (which actually made it easier) but on a page of 100 phone numbers I actually spoke with about five people.
DeleteNina
Wow, punching 100 phones numbers in and only having five people respond, no wonder this pollster seemed happy I agreed to do the poll.
DeleteI have been participating in a political roundtable of local women. You would be a great addition. It started out bipartisan but the republicans slowly dropped out. I think they weren't crazy about rational facts. Even though we were polite. LOL
ReplyDeleteWe had the same experience here with our book club. The Republicans one by one dropped out because they didn't' like discussing or reading any books with diverse characters in them.
DeleteI'm on the fence about Biden's age - I think, judging from his debate answers, and particularly his later press conference, he's fully competent. Well, he's done an excellent job so far! Its just the jarring image of him walking on that debate stage etc that gave me pause. I think Biden had a chance of beating agent orange because agent orange is so disliked outside his cult.
ReplyDeleteKamala Harris is a woman AND black - can the electoral college let her win? We'll see. She's certainly broken the glum mood!
The immigrant wives' meme I find fascinating. Mitch Mc has a Chinese wife - how does someone so racist do that?!
This election is the most thrilling not-a-novel! Unbelievable twists and turns. Truly, life is stranger than fiction.
On a side note, how did Obama manage to win a SECOND term with that GOP?!! ~Libby, Oz
Obama drew in a lot of first time voters and I think Karmala will too. Though there are people around who won't vote for a black woman no matter what.
DeleteI did not know Mitch is married to a Chinese woman, that's interesting! I just read an article about their marriage. It sure puts a different spin on him and his actions, doesn't it.
I think Biden is in capable of running the country but I do think his age was showing up in ways that made too many people nervous that he could go the full four years or win again someone who kept throwing his age in his face. In our 80's weren't truly only a heartbeat away from a serious health issue.
This may sound cynical, but Mitch McConnell is driven by money. Period. And his wife is from one of the richest families in America.
DeleteThe whole party is now driven by money. Didn't know his wife came from money.
DeleteElaine Chao (Mitch's wife) was Trump's transportation secretary after being George Bush's labor secretary. She resigned after Jan. 6 and Trump started calling her "Coco Chow" claiming she was working for China. I thought he only hired "all the best people." It's true: everything Trump touches dies.
DeleteUnbelievable!!!
DeleteI'm excited about Kamala running and am feeling the hope I felt when Obama ran and we knew we could make history. And we did!
ReplyDeleteMe too! I loved Obama since the beginning and it's taken me awhile to warm up to Kamala. But I truly believe that Biden has prepared her for the job head and she's no doubt a smart and capable woman.
DeleteFascinating! Your poll sounds interesting, both the questions, the length of it, and that you were called/qualified to take it. I'm with you about never Trump, sorry to see Nikki Haley debase herself for him. Since Kamala has come on the scene, my answer to the "are we going in the right direction?" is: HELL YES!
ReplyDeleteHad I known what was going to happen with Biden dropping out and Kamala running I probably would answered 'yes' as well.
DeleteLMAOROTF at the Memes. I'm not sure I'd respond to a Political Poll, depending upon whose collecting them and for what actual purposes... since I just have eroded Trust these days. I so want to see a Woman President in my Lifetime, it's long overdue and Kamala has energized this Election Cycle and given renewed Hope IMO. Lots of Young People seem to be more confident their future isn't doomed...
ReplyDeleteThere really is new hope and interest in the election. It's actually fun again. I have confidence that the young people will rise up and safe us from Trump and Harris is ready for the job.
DeleteThey won't tell you who is taking the polls and for what purpose. Can you image the answers Trumpesters would give to gum them up if they did?
I'm glad you said yes to the poll; although legitimate pollsters have sophisticated procedures for trying to get a representative sample, in the end, the poll only accurately represents the views of those who agree to participate. I have worked in the past doing survey research and spent decades teaching research methods, so I almost always say yes to pollsters (including one who calls me occasionally to participate in focus groups), but I hang up as soon as I get any hint from the questions that they have a biased agenda.
ReplyDeleteYou can tell when they have a biased agenda but they don't usually show it in the first 1/3 do they.
Delete