poll shows just how dumb many OWS protesters are

Remodeling Maidiac

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Jun 13, 2011
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New York magazine

14% do not know what the Frank/Dodd Act is
68% do not know what the S.E.C. is
90% do not know what the top marginal tax rate is
94% say the govt spends the most on military spending

Above was reported on the tv so I have no link. But in searching for it I also found the bit below.

Are you… Male: 66% Female: 30% “Other”: 4%

How old are you? Under 20: 10 20–29: 50 30-39: 15 40-49: 9 Over 50: 2

Pick one: Capitalism … Isn’t fundamentally evil; it just needs to be regulated: 46 Can’t be saved; it’s inherently immoral: 37 Didn’t answer: 17

Pop quiz! The proposal to prohibit banks from engaging in both client trading and proprietary trading is called … Glass-Steagall Act: 40 Volcker Rule: 6 Buffett Rule: 11 Elizabeth Warren Bill: 11 Didn’t Answer: 32 The correct answer is “Volcker Rule.”

What do you think of Obama? I believed in him, and he let me down: 40 He’s doing great: 1 I never believed in him: 27 He’s doing the best he can: 22

The country with the best government in the world is… "Canada. It’s most like the U.S. but more the way I want.” “Denmark.” “I don’t accept the premises of this question.

Did you vote in the 2010 midterm elections? Yes: 39 No: 55 No, but only because I wasn’t 18: 5

Explain how you would fix Wall Street. “A maximum-wage law.” “President Elizabeth Warren." “Burn it down.”

Rank yourself on the following Scale of Liberalism:. Not liberal at all: 6 Liberal but fairly mainstream (i.e., Barack Obama): 3 Strongly liberal (i.e., Paul Krugman): 12 Fed up with Democrats, believe country needs overhaul (i.e., Ralph Nader): 41 Convinced the U.S. government is no better than, say, Al Qaeda (i.e., Noam Chomsky): 34

Has the occupation been a success so far? 79: “Yes. We’re still here.” 13: “No. We’re still here.” Polling 100 Occupy Wall Street Protesters -- New York Magazine


They don't seem like a very well informed bunch.
 
This poll certainly doesn't make them seem well informed:

Polling 100 Occupy Wall Street Protesters -- New York Magazine

I wouldn't be surprised if the OWS protesters are not terribly well-informed. However, I think there is very little insight to be gleaned from this particular poll:

-- New York Magazine seems to be known as a tabloid and not as a polling organization

-- NYM does not describe polling methodology, and in particular this does not seem to have been a scientifically conducted poll.

-- Those polled were all at Zuccotti Park, so this is more a poll of Zuccotti Park protesters than a national or global movement.

-- Some of the answers suggest dishonesty on the part of the pollsters or those polled (I am skeptical that 4% were actually neither male or female).

-- Some of the questions are extremely poorly worded, with options that don't account for many plausible positions.

-- Some responses seem to be free responses, and I doubt they were chosen because they were representative of all of the free responses given.

-- There's no comparison to Americans as a whole. A movement which can correctly name the "Volcker rule" only 6% of the time clearly isn't expert, but I'm not sure how well other people would do.
 
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Yea, the poll is a bit unorthodoxed but I figure it is accurate. You don't need a scientific degree to send a reporter down to ask face to face questions.

I thought the 4% not male or female was funny but I don't question it. Have you seen some of those people? They look plenty confused.
 
I'm curious, is this a poll you don't believe or do? Cause you tend to dismiss a lot of polling.
 
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Yea, the poll is a bit unorthodoxed but I figure it is accurate. You don't need a scientific degree to send a reporter down to ask face to face questions.

I thought the 4% not male or female was funny but I don't question it. Have you seen some of those people? They look plenty confused.

My concern was not primarily that NYM lacks either the technical know-how or the resources to conduct a good poll. My main concern was that they manipulated both poll in a variety of ways to make the brightly-colored graphic they put in their tabloid more entertaining.

And I disagree with your suggestion that polling is easy. If you read someone like Nate Silver, you'll see that even large, established professional polling organizations get it wrong quite often. If all I knew about a poll was that it was done by an organization that had no history of polling, did not publish their methodology, and made no claims about their methodology then I would consider the results of the poll worse than useless. That doesn't mean they would be wrong, just that they wouldn't be more useful to me than a wild guess.
 
I never said polling was easy.

I merely reflected what I thought of this particular situation. I'm well aware of what a good poll requires. Especially a scientific poll. I simply don't believe they wanted that as much as a group of opinions.

Now if someone were to show me a reason to discredit this establishment because of ethical standards I'd be happy to say okay its bad. Otherwise I say its just for a quick reflection of opinions and maybe a few missing brain cells.
 
These polls give me hope.

Why? Because it shows alot of this outrage is out of ignorance. And that if we can somehow educate those involved in this protest, they wont have the same feelings, or atleast will direct them to more appropriate sources.
 
Lets make a game show for them, and call it "Are You Dumber Than Joe Biden" and ask them the most basic questions like: Where does the sun go down at night?",,,or,,What number comes after 999"? or something like, What year did George Washington Meet Abe Lincoln?
 

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