Hurley's Gold

Gallup says 4 out of 10 Americans embrace socialism.

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  • DoubleDuty

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    Well the problem is that some never learn from history and then pass their stupidity onto the next generation.
    Target Sports
     

    single stack

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    I really want to disagree with the poll's findings but, I'm having trouble.
    If 50% of American voters are willing to cast their ballots for Hillary or double down on Obama, then 40% in favor of socialism ain't that far off base.
     

    Younggun

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    I really want to disagree with the poll's findings but, I'm having trouble.
    If 50% of American voters are willing to cast their ballots for Hillary or double down on Obama, then 40% in favor of socialism ain't that far off base.

    Yet many 2 time Obama voters went for Trump.


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    candcallen

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    The problem with polls is how the questions are asked.
    Do you favor socialism is like asking do you favor background checks. The questions are designed to derive a predicted response and are USELESS in determining any trend what so ever.

    The response to those questions are predictable. 40 to 50 percent say yes to socialism and 75 percent favor background checks. If the questions are specific the answers change drastically. Asking the question the way the libtards intend their policy gets a much different response.

    What the antigunners mean is not the general question they asked. Ask them as follows and their support evaporates.
    Do you favor a full background check every time you gift a weapon. Or sell a weapon to a family member. Do you favor a background check everytime you loan a weapon to a family member or friend or even hand one to a family member or friend to shoot along side of you. Do you favor yet another background check when those same people return your weapons to you after said hunting or recreation activity.

    The same goes for socialism.
    Do you favor the government taking as much as 50 to 75% of your total income to pay for free stuff for other people, this is on top of the FICA deductions to pay for Medicare for you? Do you favor having a government buerocrats deciding when and how much healthcare you can access. Do you favor paying for a system like France where everyone gets free college and can then be on eternal welfare if they dont like available jobs or cant find a job?
    I suspect support will evaporate.

    Then get into the crux of socialism and it gets worse. Do you support a system like Cuba where everyone gets free healthcare but everyone except the ruling class live in equal poverty regardless of their job or skills? Do you favor true socialism where those who dont contribute as much or more to the system than they consume are kicked out of the country or euthanized? Do you favor killing babies born with disabilities who will always be a drain on the system? Do you favor killing the disabled or elderly after they become of no more value and consume too much? Do you favor forced population control and forced sex selective abortions to control population balance?

    Dont forget Hillary was supposed to be president. They might have known ahead of time if they asked people if the supported candidates who helped destroy whole industries like coal and manufacturing putting millions out of work, or worse forcing them to just give up trying, all in the name of global warming and free trade? Do you support candidates who spent 25 years selling special access to the government in exchange for huge donations to their foundation and speaking fees to their spouses?
     
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    pronstar

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    The other problem with polls is that they aren’t supposed to be predictive. They just state observational probability, like odds.

    If you play roulette, you have a 2.6% chance of hitting a number straight-up.
    If you play this way, and your number hits, it doesn’t mean the odds were wrong.

    Trump was given a ~30% chance to win based on polls. I’ll take 70% odds all day long...it doesn’t mean I’ll win all the time.




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    Mowingmaniac 24/7

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    How/Why does this never winning political monstrosity keep lurching into view?

    Give me stuff that I've not earned....cuz ya know, I be alive...and dat's good enough to qualify for free stuff...Oh, btw, there's plenty o'white shitbirds exclaiming the same. How do I know? I came from and still come from that family of 'un-worthies"...

    Socialism is a form of begging/demanding/forcing from the producers.

    You do. We demand. Make it happen......

    Uh-huh, not really if we stand against those cretins...
     

    zincwarrior

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    While it's maddening that many on the left, mainly whiny ass college kids who have never supported themselves, much less anyone else....or just shiftless ne'r-do-wells living in mom's basement are eating up socialism with a spoon, it really doesn't worry me. Especially in an election cycle where one of the worst failures of socialism in recent history is ongoing as Venezuela burns and its people starve and our economy fucking rocks. The Trump campaign needs this.....and I can't state it enough.....FRONT AND CENTER to show the contrast between the two ideals.

    Most reject this infringement on freedom out of hand. Trump was right in his SOTU address....the US will never be a socialist nation. Loved watching Bernie's face turn more red than it usually is.
    Probably farmers looking for another subsidy bailout.
     

    toddnjoyce

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    The problem with polls is...

    TL;DR: Monetizing the results.

    When I started my Master’s, the acceptable results for a poll to be considered valid was +/- 3 points at a 99% confidence interval from a representative sample of the population.

    That only takes a sample size of about 1850 respondents for today’s US population size, but it’s really hard to get a representative sample in the US.

    So the customers bump the confidence interval down to 95% and accept a 4-8 point margin of error, while really drive the sample size needed down.

    There’s a whole lot of science that should go into poll design. Unfortunately, the preamble usually dilutes the results through positive bias indicators, then the wording and order of the questions can be such that it reinforces that bias.

    There’s also a whole lot of science that should go into sample selection and, even, methods of response. Telephone polls rely on someone answering the line; do not call registries and the proliferation of cell and voip #s ensure many aren’t even included. Internet polls rely on recruiting people (usually by email) with access to the internet to complete a poll. Getting email addresses that are reliably representative is exceedingly difficult. Add to it Junk mail filters and predispositions to click-bait, and a whole host of other behaviors that result in a non-representative sample responds, and the something has to give, which is usually the representative sample hence the phrase “669 Americans participated....”

    All this because everyone is told data tells the story, and polling is a quick and easy way to get data to tell a story. And since everyone wants data to support their position, whether it’s politics or freedom fries, sellers pay pollsters to provide the results.
     

    Inspector43

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    Due mainly to the internet, the accuracy of polls has fallen. You have to ask yourself, who is answering these polls? What demographics these polls attract? Are they truly representative of voters? Not everyone votes but that doesn't exclude them from poling, so does their opinion matter on political matters?

    I don't put much faith in polls.
    I think they use the Jay Leno method on the streets of California. They might even ask the same people.
     

    Inspector43

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    TL;DR: Monetizing the results.

    When I started my Master’s, the acceptable results for a poll to be considered valid was +/- 3 points at a 99% confidence interval from a representative sample of the population.

    That only takes a sample size of about 1850 respondents for today’s US population size, but it’s really hard to get a representative sample in the US.

    So the customers bump the confidence interval down to 95% and accept a 4-8 point margin of error, while really drive the sample size needed down.

    There’s a whole lot of science that should go into poll design. Unfortunately, the preamble usually dilutes the results through positive bias indicators, then the wording and order of the questions can be such that it reinforces that bias.

    There’s also a whole lot of science that should go into sample selection and, even, methods of response. Telephone polls rely on someone answering the line; do not call registries and the proliferation of cell and voip #s ensure many aren’t even included. Internet polls rely on recruiting people (usually by email) with access to the internet to complete a poll. Getting email addresses that are reliably representative is exceedingly difficult. Add to it Junk mail filters and predispositions to click-bait, and a whole host of other behaviors that result in a non-representative sample responds, and the something has to give, which is usually the representative sample hence the phrase “669 Americans participated....”

    All this because everyone is told data tells the story, and polling is a quick and easy way to get data to tell a story. And since everyone wants data to support their position, whether it’s politics or freedom fries, sellers pay pollsters to provide the results.
    Right, and we see what that data did for Hillary. Trump 2020.
     

    WT_Foxtrot

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    IMO polls these days are designed to condition people to accept a predetermined result based on what the polls unequivocally say, therefore rendering the "losers" meaningless and no reason to continue the fight and/or show up at the polls. According to everyone (except a few individuals like me and luckily millions more who didn't give up), it was over before it started.

    Backfired "big league" in '16 without a doubt.
     
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    oldag

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    Back to the original point, for some years a revisionist version of history has been taught in the schools. Younger people do not know what truly is socialism, and what the endpoint of socialism is.
     

    MTA

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    What percentage of Americans accept some form of welfare? Of course those people are in favor of Socialism. Free shit is a powerful pill.
    This x100. I even know some “conservatives” who love to milk the VA so its definitely something that prople from both sides are guilty of. We have lost our rugged individualism and sense of independence in this country
     

    andre3k

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    This x100. I even know some “conservatives” who love to milk the VA so its definitely something that prople from both sides are guilty of. We have lost our rugged individualism and sense of independence in this country
    You mean all of the folks trying to get that 100% disability. Almost every vet I know is working to get that.

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    HKShooter65

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    I'm certain that more than 4/10 posters here support "some form of socialism".
    That Gallup pole makes for good 10 second media blurbs. 4/10 is low.

    It's all about how terms are defined and which implementation of socialism is being considered.

    https://medium.com/@DanWebb69/a-soc...e-united-states-the-u-s-military-40b31c9d2d9a
    Our US military is a thriving and ubiquitous "form of socialism", as is our imperfect yet necessary VA health system.

    A progressive income tax to maintain a national highway system is "some form of socialism".

    Our society could not survive without a significant contribution from socialist components.

    It's tough to get beyond the 4-of-10 simpleton sound bite that both sides of the media embrace.

    You guys play right into the hands of those who have weaponized a word and a concept on which our nation relies, eh?
     
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