Comcast And News Corporation Conducted A Poll In February, 2011

by Dick Mac

The evil liberal media, represented here by News Corporation's Wall Street Journal, and Comcast's NBC News, conducted a poll. One hundred Americans were selected to answer questions about the federal deficit, the national debt, people and places.

Murdoch and Comcast used Republican pollster Bill McInturff and Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who have been conducting this survey since 1989. The current data was collected during February, 2011.

Some criteria needs to be used to select people, and in this particular survey the pollsters interviewed only people who used a cell-phone as their primary telephone device, and did not have a land line. I don't know if that criteria skews the results in any particular direction. One hundred people were surveyed. I think the rest of the statistical information is more pertinent than whether or not they had a land line:

48 were male
65 were over 40 years or older
11 were of Hispanic descent (that is, Spanish-speaking descent)
77 were White

After the questions about personal statistics were done, the real questions began:

All in all, do you think that things in the nation are generally headed in the right direction, or do you feel that things are off on the wrong track?

31 Headed in the right direction
60 Off on the wrong track
09 Mixed/Not Sure

In general, do you approve or disapprove of the job that Barack Obama is doing as president?

48 Approve
46 Disapprove
06 Not Sure

Do you generally approve or disapprove of the job that Barack Obama is doing in handling the economy?

46 Approve
49 Disapprove
05 Not Sure

In general, do you approve or disapprove of the job that Congress is doing?

22 Approve
69 Disapprove
09 Not Sure

Now I'm going to read you the names of several public figures, groups, organizations and countries, and I'd like you to rate your feelings toward each one as very positive, somewhat positive, neutral, somewhat negative, or very negative. If you don't know the name, please just say so.

Barack Obama

28 Very Positive
21 Somewhat Positive
15 Neutral
15 Somewhat Negative
20 Very Negative
01 Not Sure/Don't Know Name

The following names were randomized. This is done to avoid having one subject following another subject for each and every respondent. It is generally believed that this prevents associations that can slant the results.

John Boehner

06 Very Positive
14 Somewhat Positive
22 Neutral
09 Somewhat Negative
12 Very Negative
37 Not Sure/Don't Know Name


Donald Trump

09 Very Positive
17 Somewhat Positive
40 Neutral
18 Somewhat Negative
11 Very Negative
05 Not Sure/Don't Know Name


Mitt Romney

06 Very Positive
19 Somewhat Positive
30 Neutral
13 Somewhat Negative
12 Very Negative
20 Not Sure/Don't Know Name


Tim Pawlenty

03 Very Positive
07 Somewhat Positive
20 Neutral
06 Somewhat Negative
03 Very Negative
61 Not Sure/Don't Know Name


Saudi Arabia

02 Very Positive
10 Somewhat Positive
34 Neutral
29 Somewhat Negative
20 Very Negative
05 Not Sure/Don't Know Name


Egypt

10 Very Positive
22 Somewhat Positive
30 Neutral
17 Somewhat Negative
15 Very Negative
06 Not Sure/Don't Know Name


Labor Unions

16 Very Positive
22 Somewhat Positive
22 Neutral
17 Somewhat Negative
19 Very Negative
04 Not Sure/Don't Know Name


Public Employee Unions

16 Very Positive
22 Somewhat Positive
22 Neutral
16 Somewhat Negative
18 Very Negative
06 Not Sure/Don't Know Name


Federal Government Employees

14 Very Positive
28 Somewhat Positive
34 Neutral
14 Somewhat Negative
08 Very Negative
02 Not Sure/Don't Know Name


State and Local Government Employees

16 Very Positive
31 Somewhat Positive
27 Neutral
17 Somewhat Negative
07 Very Negative
02 Not Sure/Don't Know Name


Teachers

45 Very Positive
28 Somewhat Positive
15 Neutral
06 Somewhat Negative
04 Very Negative
62 Not Sure/Don't Know Name


Teachers' Unions

23 Very Positive
24 Somewhat Positive
19 Neutral
12 Somewhat Negative
18 Very Negative
04 Not Sure/Don't Know Name


Choose one of these statements:

Government should do more to solve problems and help meet the needs of people,
OR
Government is doing too many things better left to businesses and individuals.

51 Government should do more
46 Government is doing too many thing
02 Some of both
01 Not sure

Some of these results are surprising to me.

I would think Barack Obama would have a much lower rating. Even if you give all the "not sures" to disapprove, it's a 48/52 split (but, you don't give the not sures to disapprove, because they were not sure). I think, however, that all of us tend to be less vocally critical of the President than we are of others. So, even if we do not like a President, I think we tend to soften our response to such a question to be respectful of the Office.

Given the way the media is presenting information, I would think that John Boehner would have more than a 20% Positive rating. Even if you consider the "Neutrals" to be generally Positive, I would still think that he would have a Positive rating higher than 42%. In reality, though, Neutral means neutral and only 20% of respondents have a Positive opinion of the Speaker of the House.

I am always surprised that Saudi Arabia has any positive reputation in the United States. People actually consider them our ally, even though they are anti-liberty, they fund terrorism, and work only with the most avaricious of American businessmen. There are few allies in our realm of influence that are as bad for us as Saudi Arabia. They are like the heroin dealer who takes you to the rehab clinic every few years to clean-up, thereby saving your life, but arrives to pick you up on release date so as not to lose your valuable "friendship."

Labor Unions also did better than I would think, since most broadcast media tell us that Americans are anti-union. Thirty-eight of a hundred people have a positive opinion of labor unions; 36 a negative opinion, 22 are neutral about them, and 4 are not sure (or have never heard of labor unions). Interestingly, between 1997 and 2011, 5% of the responders changed from neutral to either negative or positive, with 27 being neutral in 1997 and only 22, in 2011. So, people's opinions of labor unions seem to have shifted one way or another; but with no discernible trend either way.

And the most contentious issue in the survey: Teachers and their unions. Seventy-three of the 100 responses about teachers were positive, with only 10 negative, and a remarkable 15 Neutral. Their unions did not fare as well. While 73 had a positive opinion of teachers, only 47 had a positive opinion of their unions; but, only 30 had a negative opinion, with 19 maintaining a neutral position. Four were not sure or had never heard of teachers unions. Overall, though, there is a more favorable than unfavorable opinion about teachers unions by more than a third.

You can see these results at both The Wall Street Journal site and the MSNBC site. I provide both links in case navigating to one is more offensive to you than the other:

NBC News/Wall Street Journal Survey at WSJ

NBC News/Wall Street Journal Survey at MSNBC