Monday, April 23, 2012

On Taking Those On-Line Surveys

Fun though they are, you knew there had to be an ulterior motive, right?

Some 2 weeks ago I was directed to a 13-question survey on how politically knowledgeable I might be. The quiz was only mildly entertaining, and I scored 13/13. I also agreed with Roger, the Real King Of France that no one scoring less than 100% should be allowed to hold political office.

So here's the ulterior motive. The survey was a Pew sponsored item which determined from the answers and background questions of those taking it that:
The Pew survey adds to a wave of surveys and studies showing that GOP-sympathizers are better informed, more intellectually consistent, more open-minded, more empathetic and more receptive to criticism than their fellow Americans who support the Democratic Party.
I am proud to have upheld my end of the deal.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The widest partisan gap in the survey came in at 30 points when only 46 percent of Democrats — but 76 percent of Republicans —- correctly described the GOP as “the party generally more supportive of reducing the size of federal government.”

Because when the GOP controlled all branches of the federal government, the size of the federal government was reduced? Seriously, that is the quality of this survey?

And the air of smugness emanating from the commenters at the link made was as thick as any I have seen at left-wing liberal blogs...

Billll said...

I had kind of wondered about that one myself as I don't remember the GOP actually reducing the government in any noticeable way. I suppose it's 1: the definition of a reduction in Washington that includes a reduction in the rate of growth, or 2: one of the institutionalized lies the parties tell us in order to get (re)elected.

As to the smugness well, after listening to an unending stream of baseless ad hominium attacks for years and years, seeing evidence that they were essentially all wrong and having actual evidence to back it up is refreshing.

The Troll said...

"seeing evidence "

What evidence supports your assertion that "they" (whoever they are) were wrong and you are right?

If the survey's 'correct' answer -- Republicans are "more supportive of reducing the size of federal government" -- is demonstrably wrong, then your evidence is worthless.

You are as desperate to believe in the intellectual superiority of conservatives as, say, liberals are to believe that we have to Do Something™ Right Now™ about man-made global warming. Very sad.

I'm sure there's some secret hockey-stick graph at the Conservative Research Unit (CRU) showing how much better and smarter conservatives are than liberals. I just haven't seen it yet.