Political Polls Can Be Mystifying

Where are the heads of the people in this country when it comes to Obama's performance since becoming president? The fact that one poll, "Real Clear Politics Poll" was able to contact 45.6 percent of those people who actually APPROVED of his performance, which has been overwhelmingly short of success in almost all of his actions, and only successful in some items that are by themselves NOT approved by a far greater majority of voters. It is mind-numbing and inexplicable; which is a synonym for mysterious and mystifying.

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In other words: Where the hell are their heads? In the Real Clear Politics Poll mentioned above which was not real clear on the criteria on which the polling was based, be it on voters only (those who said they would be likely to vote) or on general public sampling. But regardless, when one is cognizant of the promises and plans Obama made while campaigning for the presidency and actual success he has or has not had with those promises there is a far greater imbalance on the "not successful" side of the ledger than the 45.6 percent approval rate he gains in the poll. Ironically, on the negative side of the ledger, or the disapproval percentage Real Clear Politics shows that a greater number, at 47.6 Disapprove of Obama's performance, which is only a smallish 2.0 percent more than the Approval number. This is where 'inexplicability' enters the picture. If we look at the success or no success of the promises and plans Obama made while campaigning you'll find this head-scratching phenomenon in full view. Wikipedia reports "The St. Petersburg Times in Florida operates a project called 'PolitiFact.com' where statements of government and groups with government interests such as lobbyists, etc., are checked for facts. They publish original statements and their evaluations on the PolitiFact.com website, and assign each a 'Truth-O-Meter' rating. The site also includes an 'Obameter', tracking President Barack Obama's performance with regard to his campaign promises. "PolitiFact.com was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2009 for "its fact-checking initiative during the 2008 presidential campaign that used probing reporters and the power of the World Wide Web to examine more than 750 political claims, separating rhetoric from truth to enlighten voters." The PolitiFact.com on Friday, December 10, 2010 has a full report of comments and observations on the Obama campaign, listing 'promises kept', 'promises stalled', 'promises broken', and 'promises in the works' as well as 'compromised' or 'not yet rated'. As we all know, promises made by politicians are as numerous as they are largely spurious and we should all be alert to some of the egregious ones that 'promise the moon and stars' but deliver nothing of value that accompany the daily ashes and detritus. Which is probably why PolitiFact.com is in operation. Though far too numerous to list all of Obama's promises here just knowing the sites of where to go to find them if you are interested, are listed below. But the actual accomplishments of the Obama Administration do not equal a poll rating of 45.6 favorability by any stretch of the imagination; particularly when the legislation for which he most often pats himself on the back for getting enacted, namely the healthcare package that was passed in a very anti-American method of procedure and forced down the throats of the people against their more than sixty percent disapproval, is his high point of self-praise.

• 23 promises broken on 2 pages:
• 232 'promises in the works' on 12 pages:
• 85 'promises stalled' on 5 pages:
• 123 'promises kept' on 7 pages:
• 37 'promises compromised' on 2 pages:
• 3 'promises not yet rated' on 1 page:

Can we trust polls to provide truthful and factual information? To a certain degree the answer is yes; but in a lot of cases, a very large grain of rock salt should be taken with them. They are just like a great majority of politicians themselves; not to be totally trusted.