Orgah Americans' Opinions On Obama

[rvg]

I disagree with Barry O. on many things, but overall the guy is just too damn likeable and definitely a breath of fresh air after 8 years of 'nukular strategery'.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Commentary on my choices-

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I disagree that Obama made good appointment choices. I admit Clinton surprises me as being a decent choice so far... I dislike that woman, but no complaints at the moment. Otherwise he really needs to choose his team better. That was embarrassing.

I want to qualify that MOST of the people I have PERSONALLY spoken to who oppose Obama do so for reasons so childish that it boggles the mind. However, there is plenty to disagree with the man about, and perhaps I am just attracting the really really "nice" people somehow and that's skewing my results. You can disagree with Obama but most of the arguments I've seen as to why involve racial paranoia (to a disturbing extent) laughable questions about his parentage, religion, or citizenship status, claims of terrorism, or otherwise attacks on his character, or plain old partisan sour grapes and hatred without reason.

But hey, die-hard capitalists should have a field day. He did increase taxes on the wealthy. We're commies now. Plus he apologized for some stupid things we did and is making us look better to the whole world, though some think that's a... bad thing? He seems surprisingly hawkish on war and piracy... esp in regards to Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Somalia. Doesn't look like we're surrendering/abandoning Iraq either. I trust him with defense and foreign policy, as for the economy... the alternative seems to be "do nothing" so I'd prefer a little intervention in this mess, in spite of my desire for less government waste. sorry.

It's impossible to know the man's character for sure, but by his behavior and record and everything so far, I think we have a good person in charge, a humble and down-to-earth man, in spite of efforts to twist him into an out-of-touch intellectual elitist with a huge ego. I seem to recall the nation gave George W. Bush a fair chance to prove himself, but within days of Obama being sworn in, he was the worst president ever as far as some Republicans were concerned.

I think that's rather sad.

[ICantSpellDawg]

The forum should modify polls to allow the original poster to delete votes that are outside of the scope of the poll. There could be a little sidebar showing the names of those whose votes were deleted.

It is rather pointless to do regionally centered polls because they never come back anything but skewed.

[KukriKhan]

All respect to Vuk-san

At 100 days in office, of a 1450+-day reign, maybe a simpler "agree" or "disagree" 2-choice poll would work better, with another at 200, 300, 1,000, 2,5000 days.

Backroom regulars could explain their "yea" or "nay", and you could chart the change.

Just a suggestion.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Besides enjoying some of the media circuses that have developed over him, I don't think he's going to meaningfully affect my life. :)

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

I seem to recall the nation gave George W. Bush a fair chance to prove himself, but within days of Obama being sworn in, he was the worst president ever as far as some Republicans were concerned.

I think that's rather sad.

Aside from:

1) Claiming Bush stole the election.
2) Obama and Bush seem to have had similar approval ratings.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Aside from:

1) Claiming Bush stole the election.
2) Obama and Bush seem to have had similar approval ratings.

1. I believe that a fair case could have been made that the person who decided the Florida situation was a Bush supporter makes that decision less than impartial. But I was talking about his presidency, not his election, which to be fair, included a lot of questionable voting practices.

2. I didn't recall Bush scoring this low with the opposing party right after the election, honestly. But I'd like to see the data if you can find it.

[Xiahou]

1. I believe that a fair case could have been made that the person who decided the Florida situation was a Bush supporter makes that decision less than impartial. But I was talking about his presidency, not his election, which to be fair, included a lot of questionable voting practices.

2. I didn't recall Bush scoring this low with the opposing party right after the election, honestly. But I'd like to see the data if you can find it.

Here you go. 100 days in, Bush had a 36/46 job approval/disapproval rating from Democrats. The same poll gives Obama a 30/56 from Republicans. A little worse? Sure, but not unprecedented. Clinton's 100 day number from Republicans was 25/69.

When it comes to "opinion of the President" instead of "job approval" Obama gets a 46/50 from Republicans, whereas Democrats only gave Bush a 38/59. Depending on what figure you want to look at, Bush either rated a little better, or a little worse from Democrats than Obama does from Republicans.
Democrats thought Bush was doing a better job than the GOP thinks of Obama, but the Dems thought much less of Bush personally than the Republicans do of Obama.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Here you go. 100 days in, Bush had a 36/46 job approval/disapproval rating from Democrats. The same poll gives Obama a 30/56 from Republicans. A little worse? Sure, but not unprecedented. Clinton's 100 day number from Republicans was 25/69.

When it comes to "opinion of the President" instead of "job approval" Obama gets a 46/50 from Republicans, whereas Democrats only gave Bush a 38/59. Depending on what figure you want to look at, Bush either rated a little better, or a little worse from Democrats than Obama does from Republicans.
Democrats thought Bush was doing a better job than the GOP thinks of Obama, but the Dems thought much less of Bush personally than the Republicans do of Obama.

Mmm... interesting numbers. Thank you for finding this data.

I do wonder, openly, where the disapproval comes from; it seemed to have been there since the election itself.

I'd like to have a contest where a liberal is forced to say nice things about Bush (and I don't mean in the "nice tie" variety, either) and a conservative is forced to say nice things about Obama.

Regarding Bush: I disagreed with his proposal, but I liked that he tried to do SOMETHING about Social Security even if his own party opposed it. I like that he took the fight to Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. I like the AIDS funding in Africa which may have helped save millions of lives. There are many things I can name which I thought were a good idea.

See? Not hard. However I do have legitimate policy disagreements with him on a number of issues, especially ones where he took a position and did close to nothing about. Didn't really act conservative on the budget being balanced, didn't really do much about the wide-open borders (forgive me, I consider myself very conservative on the border issue), didn't touch the immigration reform issue, didn't touch pork spending... appalling on many levels, from a conservative standpoint.

I'll even do you one further; I disagree with Obama on many things.

Regarding Obama: Hated his cabinet picks, for the most part. Thought he should have gone after the wasted Bush bailout money more aggressively. Needs to focus on balancing the budget more and trimming wasteful spending or at least putting it to work better. Needs to renegotiate trade deals which are crippling us. I disagree with many of the things he's spending bailout money on. I'd like a line-item veto. He's not taking a strong stance on gay rights at all. I'd like to see comprehensive immigration reform, but at least he did stuff about the border. Good man. Social security and medicare need an overhaul. Get to work, Obama!

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

I think the easiest thing to credit Obama with are...

3. Simultaneous. Headshots.

/boom, headshot

[Vuk]

This is NOT a forum for debating your views gentlemen.

[Strike For The South]

What's an Obama?

[Vuk]

What's an Obama?

Don't tempt me Strike and don't spam my thread up or I will digitally Kung Fu your !

[Strike For The South]

This whole thread is a circle jerk of pointless and you're getting on me for spamming. Harumph.

[Vuk]

This whole thread is a circle jerk of pointless and you're getting on me for spamming. Harumph.

Thank you for your opinion, but you may notice that you are not the only one who I have scolded. Now stop being a bad Strike or I will put you over my knee and spank your fine Texan !

[Productivity]

This whole Americans only, no discussion rule seems to be almost the antithesis of this forum. Freezing out the majority of the forum from voting and not wanting discussion seems crazy. It also seems a completely impossible task, given who has voted and the amount of discussion occuring.

Also, recommend you learn something about questionairre design before trying something like this again - those were terrible.

[Vuk]

This whole Americans only, no discussion rule seems to be almost the antithesis of this forum. Freezing out the majority of the forum from voting and not wanting discussion seems crazy. It also seems a completely impossible task, given who has voted and the amount of discussion occuring.

Also, recommend you learn something about questionairre design before trying something like this again - those were terrible.

Majority of the forum does not matter for my purposes. The election of a US president, while it affects the rest of the world, is the job and responsibility of American citizens, and it is THERE country. If I made a similar poll about Putin, I would limit it to Russians only. I don't give a flying what Dutch, or Germans, or anyone but Americans think about Obama right now for the purposes of this poll. Sure, that may be an interesting bit of knowledge and perhaps useful for something else, but not for what I want to use the data for. The thing about questionnaires is that they need to be designed to fufill a certain task and return RELEVANT data. The opinions of Portuguese on the American President is completely irrelevant. And yes, I know that lots of non-Americans have voted, but I know who is American and not, and when I tally the votes at the end of 30 days I will take out the votes of non-Americans. Right now the poll is very skewed because of the votes of non-Americans.

[Gregoshi]

While your poll isn't perfect Vuk, it is so much better than the "URGENT" survey on the Obama administration I received from the Republican National Committee yesterday. Now that was a turd of a poll. And Vuk didn't ask for a donation either.

[CountArach]

I know that lots of non-Americans have voted, but I know who is American and not, and when I tally the votes at the end of 30 days I will take out the votes of non-Americans. Right now the poll is very skewed because of the votes of non-Americans.

Then why does it matter who votes?

[Vuk]

Then why does it matter who votes?

'cause it makes my job a lot harder. That is why I kindly asked people not to be trolls and intentionally make my job harder. Why do so many people get off on trouble?

[Tribesman]

Right now the poll is very skewed

because of the questions

[Gregoshi]

Solution: Vuk, clean up the poll based on feedback so far and then make two identical copies of it, one for Americans and another for everyone else. It might make for an interesting comparison (or not).

Also, since, you are simply after the poll data, why stiffle discussion as long as it doesn't get the thread closed? People want to be heard, especially on the internet. Telling them they can't voice their opinion just gets them all worked up and trollish (and I mean "troll" in a devilish way ).

Hope this helps.

[Askthepizzaguy]

While your poll isn't perfect Vuk, it is so much better than the "URGENT" survey on the Obama administration I received from the Republican National Committee yesterday. Now that was a turd of a poll. And Vuk didn't ask for a donation either.

Oh God, do you have that poll? I want to see it.

And I wasn't referring to you as God, but you know what pun master, run with it!




Edit: I just realized I asked to see your "poll"..... hastily withdrawn.

Edit 2: I just realized I hastily withdrew the "poll"..... stumbling over words... no way to.... resist the... evil puns...

[Rhyfelwyr]

Why do so many people get off on trouble?

Because, of course, you would never do such a thing.

[Vuk]

Because, of course, you would never do such a thing.

Of course not. :P Seriously though, I would not be ing with someone's poll like several members are doing with mine. It is down-right rude and in very bad taste IMHO.

[Gregoshi]

Oh God, do you have that poll? I want to see it.

And I wasn't referring to you as God, but you know what pun master, run with it!




Edit: I just realized I asked to see your "poll"..... hastily withdrawn.

Edit 2: I just realized I hastily withdrew the "poll"..... stumbling over words... no way to.... resist the... evil puns...

Brilliant!!

I can't remember if I flushed the poll down the toilet or commited the ultimate sin by recycling it (fertilizer for the flower bed).