Perception Vs Reality: Gay Population

A recent Gallup survey was released which shows that about half of the Americans surveyed thought the gay population was around 25%. The reality puts the actual population at less then 5%.

There is little reliable evidence about what percentage of the U.S. population is in reality gay or lesbian, due to few representative surveys asking about sexual orientation, complexities surrounding the groups and definitions involved, and the probability that some gay and lesbian individuals may not choose to identify themselves as such. Demographer Gary Gates last month released a review of population-based surveys on the topic, estimating that 3.5% of adults in the United States identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, with bisexuals making up a slight majority of that figure.

Gee, I wonder how that could be? Maybe it is because there isn't a show on television that doesn't include a gay character along with the token female and token minority. Could it be because seemingly everybody associated with the entertainment industry has also professed to be gay or a lover of all things gay and wish they could be too? Quite possibly it could be because when the gay activist rally the troops, like they did in California over the gay marriage issue on the ballot, their side of the story was granted all the publicity, while the lives they ruined and threatened in their wake were ignored.

Maybe if more attention to given to such events as the Folsom Street decadence (That link is to the tamer pictures. Inside that link is a link to the NSFW pictures. Come to think of it that first link ain't all that safe.)that takes place in San Francisco the number of people claiming to be associated with gays would drop dramatically.

Amazing how a group that makes up so little of the population manages to bully their way into our lives and garners so much attention.

Pelosi's Favorability Hits New Low

Memo to the Democrats: Make sure she does plenty of campaigning the next couple of weeks.

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's favorable rating is down seven percentage points since May to 29%, a new low for her since assuming the top congressional post.

Pelosi's ratings were 2-to-1 positive, 44% to 22%, when she first assumed the speakership in January 2007, but they became closely divided by March of that year and remained so in November 2008. Views became more negative than positive for the first time in the first half of 2009, possibly because of Pelosi's public stance against the CIA's use of "enhanced interrogation" of terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay prison, and her dispute with the CIA over whether she had been briefed on the matter. Spanning the period these issues were in the news, her favorable rating fell from 42% to 32%. Pelosi's favorable rating recovered slightly in the first half of 2010 to 36%, but it has since tumbled to the new low.

Nice try by Gallup to rationalize it, but it's her supreme arrogance, smugness and condescension toward the America people that explains why she's in the gutter. There isn't a voter alive today that is voting against the Democrats because of her stance on Club Gitmo. Here's a clue to help them figure it out. There was an event six months ago that enraged the public.

Pelosi's image has gone from bad to worse in recent months, with independents, in particular, growing more critical of her. Her resulting 2-to-1 negative to positive image presents a challenge for congressional Democrats as they try to convince voters to send them back to Washington for another term. While President Obama may be of some benefit on the campaign trail in terms of firing up the Democratic base to turn out, Pelosi's subdued favorability among Democrats and highly negative image among independents suggest she is a far riskier person for Democratic candidates to be associated with -- something Republicans who are using her in ads against their opponents have already concluded.

GOP Maintains Huge Lead Among Likely Voters

So much for the myth that Democrat enthusiasm is improving. Despite nonstop campaigning by Obama, the GOP still has a commanding 17-point edge among likely voters two weeks out from election day. How's that Chamber of Commerce smear working out?

The latest results are from Gallup polling conducted the past two weekends, Oct. 7-10 and Oct. 14-17, and based on interviews with more than 2,700 registered voters and more than 1,900 likely voters.

For Republicans to lead, or even be at parity with Democrats, on the generic congressional ballot indicates they are in a good position to win a majority of House seats in the upcoming elections. This is because of Republicans' typical advantage in voter turnout, which in recent years has given that party an average five-point boost in support on Election Day.

If the elections were held today and roughly 40% of voters turned out -- a rate typical in recent years -- Gallup's Oct. 7-17 polling suggests Republicans would win 56% of the vote -- 8 points greater than their support from registered voters, and 17 points ahead of Democrats, at 39%. If turnout is significantly higher, Republicans would receive 53% of the vote (a 5-point improvement over their registered-voter figure), and the Democrats, 42%.

I do expect a higher turnout this year, but not from depressed Democrats. Independents are moving overwhelming toward the GOP and for an off-year, expect what I like to call Broken Glass Republicans to come out in droves. That is, the folks who will crawl over broken glass to cast their vote against Obama, Reid and Pelosi.

Is it any wonder Obama has seemingly begun to hallucinate?

More here.

The poll suggests that the GOP is poised to make large inroads on the Democrats' majorities in Congress on Nov. 2. Democrats have claimed that they have made progress in terms of voter enthusiasm over the past few weeks, with President Obama headlining heavily-attended rallies in key states to rally support among young voters.

But Democrats have failed to make up ground overall against Republicans in the poll, which is considered a bellwether of the outcome on Election Day.

Record Number Distrust Media

Gee, you suppose their sycophantic boot-licking for Obama and the Democrats has anything to do with these pitiful numbers?

For the fourth straight year, the majority of Americans say they have little or no trust in the mass media to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly. The 57% now saying this is a record high by one percentage point.

The 43% of Americans who, in Gallup's annual Governance poll, conducted Sept. 13-16, 2010, express a great deal or fair amount of trust ties the record low, and is far worse than three prior Gallup readings on this measure from the 1970s.

Trust in the media is now slightly higher than the record-low trust in the legislative branch but lower than trust in the executive and judicial branches of government, even though trust in all three branches is down sharply this year. These findings also further confirm a separate Gallup poll that found little confidence in newspapers and television specifically.

Nearly half of Americans (48%) say the media are too liberal, tying the high end of the narrow 44% to 48% range recorded over the past decade. One-third say the media are just about right while 15% say they are too conservative.

Seriously, except for those on the fringe left and in the White House suffering from Fox Derangement Syndrome, how can anyone possibly believe the media is too conservative?

After the anticipated GOP takeover of Congress next month expect the bias to become even worse. Newcomers to Washington should be very wary of media types wanting to cozy up to them, since they'll likely just be set up and stabbed in the back by "journalists" with an agenda. In fact, they should steer clear of liberal media and work with those who helped get them there to promote their agenda. With "mainstream" media credibility bottoming out they should work with more trusted credible sources of information--like bloggers and talk radio.

Shocker: Americans Still Don't Trust Antique Media

You know what this calls for? I'd say a group of hundreds of liberal "journalists" ought to get together and figure out ways to shape the news. Oh, wait, they tried that already. Well, considering how poorly the media is viewed by the public, they're not quite at the putrid level of the Pelosi Congress, but we figure after the next few months of trying to prop up the Democrats heading into the midterms, they'll probably even out considering right now they're only slightly ahead of the folks they're carrying water for.

Americans continue to express near-record-low confidence in newspapers and television news -- with no more than 25% of Americans saying they have a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in either. These views have hardly budged since falling more than 10 percentage points from 2003-2007.

The findings are from Gallup's annual Confidence in Institutions survey, which found the military faring best and Congress faring worst of 16 institutions tested. Americans' confidence in newspapers and television news is on par with Americans' lackluster confidence in banks and slightly better than their dismal rating of Health Management Organizations and big business.

The decline in trust since 2003 is also evident in a 2009 Gallup poll that asked about confidence and trust in the "mass media" more broadly. While perceptions of media bias present a viable hypothesis, Americans have not over the same period grown any more likely to say the news media are too conservative or too liberal.

Outside of the delusional far left or the mentally deranged, is there really anyone out there who believes the media is too conservative?

Maybe trust in the media would inch up if they showed some basic competence.
President Barack Obama hosts an iftar dinner, the meal that breaks the dawn-to-dusk fast for Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan, in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, Friday, Aug. 13, 2010. For over a billion Muslims, Ramadan is a time of intense devotion and reflection. Obama emphasized the American tenet of religious freedom just as New York City is immersed in a deeply sensitive debate about whether a mosque should be built near the site of the World Trade Center that was destroyed during the September 11, 1981 terror attacks. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

That last gem via Tim Blair.

Gallup: Conservatives Outnumber Liberals 2 to 1

More grim news for liberals and the Democratic Party.

Conservatives have maintained their leading position among U.S. ideological groups in the first half of 2010. Gallup finds 42% of Americans describing themselves as either very conservative or conservative. This is up slightly from the 40% seen for all of 2009 and contrasts with the 20% calling themselves liberal or very liberal.

The 2010 results are based on eight Gallup and USA Today/Gallup surveys conducted from January through June, encompassing interviews with more than 8,000 U.S. adults. The 42% identifying as conservative represents a continuation of the slight but statistically significant edge conservatives achieved over moderates in 2009. Should that figure hold for all of 2010, it would represent the highest annual percentage identifying as conservative in Gallup's history of measuring ideology with this wording, dating to 1992.

I guarantee the left's reaction will be they're not getting their message out, it's Rush Limbaugh's fault and we'll need balance in the media.

GOP Enjoys Huge Enthusiasm Gap

Time for a little panic at the DNC.

An average of 59% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents have said they are more enthusiastic than usual about voting this year compared with past elections, the highest average Gallup has found in a midterm election year for either party since the question was first asked in 1994.

The prior high for a party group was 50% more enthusiastic for Democrats in 2006, which is the only one of the last five midterm election years in which Democrats have had an enthusiasm advantage. In that election, Democrats won back control of the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time since 1994.

The current average is based on four measures of this enthusiasm question since February, including the recent June 11-13 USA Today/Gallup poll. In that poll, 53% of Republicans said they were more enthusiastic than usual about voting and 39% were less enthusiastic, while 35% of Democrats said they were more enthusiastic about voting and 56% were less enthusiastic.

Republicans' net score of +14 more enthusiastic in the latest poll compared with the Democrats' net score of -21 represents the largest relative party advantage Gallup has measured in a single midterm election-year poll. More generally, Republicans have shown a decided relative advantage in enthusiasm throughout 2010, averaging a net score of +28, compared with Democrats' net score of 0.

Expect a barrage of "How tea partiers will hurt the GOP" stories from the lamestream media any time now. It's already started in rather comic fashion.

Shhh, Don't Say Socialism, Just Do It

I have seen a lot of folks writing about this poll which shows that Democrats are embracing the term Socialism, while scolding conservatives for using it as a derogatory term.

In what seems to be even more evidence of how schizophrenic Democrats are, they are also evenly split on their opinion of capitalism and socialism.

Probably the most bizarre part for the Democrats is that 85% of them have a favorable opinion of free enterprise. Don't they realize that socialism is the exact opposite of free enterprise and capitalism is the enemy of socialism?

So they think socialism is good, but they just don't want anybody saying it publicly, or something like that.

I guess the Democrats want a free enterprise, capitalistic system operating under socialist rules.

Hmmm, on second thought, that might be a good way to describe unions.

Historically Unprecedented: Obama Approval Lowest Ever 10 Months In

Obama and his handlers seem to preface every proclamation by saying it's historic and unprecedented. How do the big babies handle this? Why, by being snide and obnoxious, of course.

President Obama's job approval rating has fallen to 47 percent in the latest Gallup poll, the lowest ever recorded for any president at this point in his term.

Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford and even Richard Nixon all had higher approval ratings 10-and-a-half months into their presidencies. Obama's immediate predecessor, President George W. Bush, had an approval rating of 86 percent, or 39 points higher than Obama at this stage.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said he doesn't "put a lot of stock" in the survey by Gallup, which has conducted presidential approval polls since 1938, longer than any other organization.

"If I was a heart patient and Gallup was my EKG, I'd visit my doctor," Gibbs said in response to questions from Fox. "I'm sure a six-year-old with a Crayon could do something not unlike that. I don't put a lot of stake in, never have, in the EKG that is daily Gallup trend. I don't pay a lot of attention to the meaninglessness of it."

Except when he had high numbers. Then everyone gushed how popular he was. Now?

Silence. Except for the puerile schmuck Gibbs. I guess The Gallup Organization is the next to enter the crossfire. Although when you consider Obama's steep decline tended to coincide with his disastrous War on Fox News, one wonders whether taking on a generally-favorable pollster is a wise idea when you're already enmeshed in a quagmire of your own making.

Conservatives Outnumber Liberals 2-1

Nothing like ruining the day for liberals so early on a Monday morning.

Conservatives continue to outnumber moderates and liberals in the American populace in 2009, confirming a finding that Gallup first noted in June. Forty percent of Americans describe their political views as conservative, 36% as moderate, and 20% as liberal. This marks a shift from 2005 through 2008, when moderates were tied with conservatives as the most prevalent group.

The 2009 data are based on 16 separate Gallup surveys conducted from January through September, encompassing more than 5,000 national adults per quarter. Conservatives have been the dominant ideological group each quarter, with between 39% and 41% of Americans identifying themselves as either "very conservative" or "conservative." Between 35% and 37% of Americans call themselves "moderate," while the percentage calling themselves "very liberal" or "liberal" has consistently registered between 20% and 21% -- making liberals the smallest of the three groups.

Unfortunately, many of those mushy "moderates" are liberals pretending to be moderates, likely too ashamed to admit how hard left they are.

Now if only the Republican Party would wake up and start supporting conservative candidates instead of these weak-kneed RINOs. Much of the promising news from this polls shows a trend of independents moving to the right, which does not bode well for the Democrats as we enter the 2010 election cycle.

Gallup Survey As Greatest President Ever: Ronald Reagan

I figure in another month the Obamatons will have this rigged, so let's enjoy the results while we can.

Less than a month into Barack Obama's presidency, Obama's desire to emulate Abraham Lincoln can be found in his speeches, his bipartisan gestures, and his "team of rivals" approach to picking a cabinet. But Lincoln is not matchless as Americans' pick for the nation's greatest president. Given a list of five presidents to choose from, Americans are as likely to name John Kennedy as Lincoln (22% each), while 24% choose Ronald Reagan.

Honestly, I can't figure what JFK did to merit being equal with Lincoln. And what's this nonsense about Obama's bipartisan gestures? What, like telling the GOP "I won"?

At least it will be enjoyable to see heads popping over Ronald Reagan getting the largest percentage of votes.

H/T Hot Air headlines.

Misleading Headline of the Day: 'Obama the most admired man in the world'

It's a poll of Americans as to who they admire most in the world, and it should come as no surprise that Obama is atop the list. The president usually is, or president-elect, in this case.

A month before his inauguration, Americans choose Barack Obama as the man they admire most in the world, according to a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. It's the first time a president-elect has topped the annual survey in more than a half-century.

President Bush falls to a distant second after seven years as the most-admired man.

Hillary Rodham Clinton leads the list of most-admired woman, a spot she's held for 13 of the past 16 years — as first lady, then New York senator and now Obama's designate for secretary of State. A newcomer is second: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who wasn't well-known nationally until Republican presidential candidate John McCain chose her as his running mate in August.

Yet here you have the Telegraph tell us he's the most admired in the world. But it's not a reflection of any kind of worldwide poll. So at the same time, this would make Hillary Clinton the most admired woman, no?

Somehow, I doubt she is. For all I know, some poll will come out and say Obama is the world's favorite. But don't tell us now a poll of strictly Americans where 32% favor Obama reflects the planet's opinion. If there were headlines the past seven years saying Bush was the world's most admired man, I sure missed them.

For example, this time last year it was Bush and Mrs. Clinton, according to this story.

They're the odd couple again: George Bush and Hillary Clinton, the most-admired man and woman in America.

Though on opposite sides of a political divide, the Republican president and the Democratic senator from New York are sharing the honor for a sixth straight year, according to a USA Today-Gallup Poll.

Last year it was most popular in America. All of a sudden now it's the world. How convenient.

On This Day In 1980, Carter Led Reagan By Eight Points

Cheer up, all you poll watchers.

This isn't over yet.

There have been only 2 instances in the past 14 elections, from 1952 to 2004, when the presidential candidate ahead in Gallup polling a week or so before the election did not win the national popular vote: in 2000 (George W. Bush) and 1980 (Jimmy Carter). And in only one of these, in 1980, did the candidate who was behind (Ronald Reagan) pull ahead in both the popular vote and the Electoral College and thus win the election.

Scroll down at the link for results dating back to 1952. While Reagan trailed Carter by eight points among registered voters in the Gallup survey on October 26, 1980, he won going away by 10 points.

Is the same likely to occur this year? Probably not, but keep in mind things are very volatile right now and plenty of embarrassing revelations are making people take notice of what's going on. Granted, while the media was also biased in 1980, it wasn't nearly as bad as the pro-Obama media has been this year. Plus, as inept as Carter was, he didn't have nearly as much baggage as Obama does.

McCain has plenty of work to do, as he trails in a number of battleground states, but despite the efforts of the media to declare the race over, there are still eight days to go.

Is John McCain the next Ronald Reagan? Far from it. But Barack Obama shapes up as being far more to the left than Jimmy Carter, truly a frightening scenario.

For what it's worth, the IBD/TIPP poll has Obama up 46.5-43.3% with 10.1% still undecided. The RCP average has Obama up 7.3 average, but that's skewed by dubious NY Times and Newsweek polls. Today's Rasmussen poll has Obama up by five. Not insurmountable, but very little time to work with.

Maybe if Obama's friends at the Los Angeles Times release that potentially explosive video they're sitting on, things could shift.

Poll Shocker: GOP Leads By Five Points Among Likely Voters for Congress

Looks like the McCain-Palin ticket has some substantial coattails.

The positive impact of the GOP convention on polling indicators of Republican strength is further seen in the operation of Gallup's "likely voter" model in this survey. Republicans, who are now much more enthused about the 2008 election than they were prior to the convention, show heightened interest in voting, and thus outscore Democrats in apparent likelihood to vote in November. As a result, Republican candidates now lead Democratic candidates among likely voters by 5 percentage points, 50% to 45%.

If these numbers are sustained through Election Day -- a big if -- Republicans could be expected to regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

As Gallup's long-term "generic ballot" trend shows, the Democrats held a sizable lead on this measure from the time they won back control of Congress in the fall of 2006 through last month. If the current closer positioning of the parties holds, the structure of congressional preferences will be similar to most of the period from 1994 through 2005, when Republicans won and maintained control of Congress.

Expect major panic from Democrats over this news.

This should be no real stunner, however, consider how low the Nancy Pelosi Congress is rated, most recently coming in at 9% approval.

H/T Hot Air headlines.

Gateway Pundit links. Thanks!

Poll Shock: McCain Up 10 Among Likely Voters

Who's panicking more today? New England Patriot fans or Democrats?

It may be a tossup.

The Patriots at least will be playing past the first week of November, by which time Barack Obama may be a historical footnote.

In the new poll, taken Friday through Sunday, McCain leads Obama by 54%-44% among those seen as most likely to vote. The survey of 1,022 adults, including 959 registered voters, has a margin of error of +/— 3 points for both samples.

Assorted reaction here.

Coronation on Hold: Messiah Now Tied With McCain

Looks like the media effort to get this lightweight Chicago hack elected is faltering badly.

For the second straight day, the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll shows that the race for the White House is tied. Sunday’s numbers show Barack Obama and John McCain each attracting 43% of the vote. When "leaners" are included, the two candidates are tied at 46%. For most of the past month-and-a-half, Obama has led McCain by approximately five percentage points. It will take a few more days to determine whether this recent tightening of the race reflects real change or is merely statistical noise. (see recent daily results).

The news for Glowbama is even worse when you consider the inherently biased Newsweek poll shows a 12-point drop over the past couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, Gallup has The Messiah up four points.

Wait a Minute, What Happened to That 15-Point Lead?

Both Newsweek and the Los Angeles Times released fraudulent polls this past week claiming to show The Obama had a 15-point lead over John McCain. Of course they sampled less than 25% Republicans, but even with that anomaly, both polls were greeted by headlines around the globe.

Making up news, in other words.

So why doesn't the Gallup poll showing them in a statistical tie merit any news?

Congress Has Lowest Rating Ever, Trails Military 71-12%

That Nancy Pelosi Era is really working out, huh?

Gallup's annual update on confidence in institutions finds just 12% of Americans expressing confidence in Congress, the lowest of the 16 institutions tested this year, and the worst rating Gallup has measured for any institution in the 35-year history of this question.

And what do you know, the military enjoys the highest rating of any group.

In the latest update, Congress ranks just below HMOs, for whom 13% of Americans express "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence. Big business, the criminal justice system, organized labor, newspapers, television news, and the presidency all receive relatively low confidence ratings.

In contrast, Americans express the most confidence in the military, as they have each year since 1988 (with the exception of 1997, when small business edged it out). Small business ranks second in the current poll, just ahead of the police. These are the only three institutions that for whom a majority of Americans express a high degree of confidence.

So given the mess left by Pelosi and her crooked bunch, why won't people just sweep them from office? The Democrats have spent the better part of the last five years slandering our troops, and look where it's gotten them.

Ron Paul at 0% in Gallup Poll

One can sense a groundswell of support for the lunatic fringe candidate, Ron Paul.

UPDATE: Captain Ed asks whether the boomlet is over.

Did it ever really occur?

Democrat Congress Rates Lower Than Bush

The left loves to constantly harp on George W. Bush's low approval ratings, which according to this poll is at 33%.

I wonder how much they'll jabber on about the fact Congress is coming in at 29%?

PRINCETON, NJ -- A new Gallup Poll finds continued low levels of public support for both Congress and President George W. Bush. Twenty-nine percent of Americans approve of Congress, down slightly from last month's reading (33%) and this year's high point of 37%, while Bush's approval rating is holding steady at 33%. Both the ratings of Congress and the president are slightly lower than their respective 2007 averages. Approval ratings of Congress are higher among Democrats than Republicans, while Bush's ratings are much higher among Republicans.