Pew Study = We Are Wrongly Assuming That People Know Bush and McCain Are Both Republicans!

Pew Study = Perhaps McCain Leads B/C Americans Don't Know Bush And McCain Are In The Same Party

I recommend reading the following report from the Pew Center, which is facinating. It shows the poor state of knowledge of a substantial percentage of Americans. For example, over 30% of people could not name the current vice-president.

http://people-press.org/report/319/public-knowledge-of-current-affairs-little-changed-by-news-and-information-revolutions

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Since the late 1980s, the emergence of 24-hour cable news as a dominant news source and the explosive growth of the internet have led to major changes in the American public's news habits. But a new nationwide survey finds that the coaxial and digital revolutions and attendant changes in news audience behaviors have had little impact on how much Americans know about national and international affairs.

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On average, today's citizens are about as able to name their leaders, and are about as aware of major news events, as was the public nearly 20 years ago. The new survey includes nine questions that are either identical or roughly comparable to questions asked in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 2007, somewhat fewer were able to name their governor, the vice president, and the president of Russia, but more respondents than in the earlier era gave correct answers to questions pertaining to national politics.

In 1989, for example, 74% could come up with Dan Quayle's name when asked who the vice president is. Today, somewhat fewer (69%) are able to recall Dick Cheney. However, more Americans now know that the chief justice of the Supreme Court is generally considered a conservative and that Democrats control Congress than knew these things in 1989. Some of the largest knowledge differences between the two time periods may reflect differences in the amount of press coverage of a particular issue or public figure at the time the surveys were taken. But taken as a whole the findings suggest little change in overall levels of public knowledge.

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Thus, when many of you ask, "How can McCain be ahead?" Perhaps the answer is that after watching the Republican National Convention when speaker after speaker railed against a liberal Washington, many Americans simply do not know that George Bush and John McCain are in the same party, are both conservatives, and that McCain voted in support of Bush 95% of the time in 2007.

...I saw earlier a Gallup said 52% of people think Obama will raise taxes.

That's something we can do something about online.

Although I haven't heard Obama use the phrase in a while, just say "taxes on the oil companies' record profits".

a woman stated that she thought McCain's runningmate was Obama. I nearly fell out of my chair.

Some people are just too stupid to be allowed to vote.

Based on those Pew numbers there is at least 30 percent of the population that really has no idea that McCain and Bush are in the same party, nor do they have the slightest inkling what their positions are. The McCain campaign is specifically targetting these low information voters when he says this election is not about the issues.

"fucking morons"?

Particulary when Romney started talking about the liberal Washington establishment. We can't forget the low information voters who believe the last thing they heard, particularly when the media fails to mention the basics, like John McCain and George Bush are in the same party and that McCain endorsed Bush in 2004. The fact of the matter is that many people simply may not know.

the office were independent contractors who brought their own clientele with them but used our office equipment. One of these agents was a sweet but not very bright woman. One day she asked me if her client who was travelling to Albuquerque would need a passport. I thought she was kidding and said no, of course not. Albuqueque is in New Mexico. In all seriousness she replied, "Isn't that a part of Mexico?"

Sometimes the ignorance is just mind boggling.

My chief criticism of the campaign strategy has ALWAYS been that post-partisanship makes it impossible to tie Bush and McCain because the tie is their goddamn PARTY.

And the dumb-ass fantasy that Obama was ever going to do well among Republicans was always a dumb-ass fantasy.

Run Against the Republican Party! It is more unpopular than McCain.

And the Democratic Party is more popular than Obama.

So be a fucking DEMOCRAT.

Is that a sizable portion of the population according to the Pew study does not know that McCain and Bush are Republicans. Thus, the ad you recommend would need to both educate the public that Bush and McCain are Republicans, then trash the Republicans in one fell swoop.

If you look at recent McCain ads, no mention is made of the fact that McCain and Palin are Republicans (see "Original Mavericks" ad), since the ad brags about McCain and Palin taking on Republicans. So, I think you suggestion assumes too much.

but a deliberate effort to conceal the obvious fact they are Republicans. It is just so corny it is inconceivable that it is working ....

It's depressing in a generic sense, of course, but the fact that there is SO much room for improvement in terms of political knowledge means that well-written ads could still do a lot to change voters' minds.

The only direction to go is up, and efforts to educate, inform and empower the American public could yield great benefits. However, it is hard to know what the end result will be of efforts to educate people on basic facts such as John McCain and George Bush are in the same party, and they have the same policies. We take this for granted, but the Pew study shows that many people may not understand the basics.

too stupid to live with.

Seriously, the Obama team has got to get down and dirty -- it's the only way to reach these dumbasses!

vote? Or if so, how will they remember who to vote for? Or why would they vote, in that it would seem to be irrelevant to them who is in office. So the effort to vote would be too much.

On knowledge of current events. Yet, Fox News is the highest rated news programs. I don't know whether it is correlation or causation, but the fact remains that there is a sizable segment of the population that may vote, which lacks knowledge on basic facts that we take for granted such as:

1. McCain and Bush are both Republicans.
2. Obama is a Democrat.
3. The Republicans controlled all three branches of Government until January 2007.
4. McCain's economic policy is no different from Bush's policy.

We take these facts for granted, however, the Pew report suggests that many Americans may not know these basic facts, particularly those that watch Fox. Thus, during the RNC when speaker after speaker railed against the federal government, and Romney demanded a change from a liberal Washington, perhaps they were counting on this ignorance. Sadly, Big Media did nothing to point out the lies implicit in such speeches.

think the world is flat. Serious as a heart attack.

Americans are uninformed and ignorant, particulary about political matters.

Years ago when Jesse Ventura was governor of Minnesota and much in the news I commented to another parent at my daughter's school that one of the new male teachers was a ringer for him. The woman looked at me blankly and said, "Who?" I repeated that I believed he looked just like Jesse Ventura, the wrestler turned governor. She coldly replied, "I don't know who you are talking about. I don't pay any attention to politics." Later that year she pulled her kids out of school to home school them. How scary is that?

In 1994 one of my co-workers was a real motor mouth. Never let a lack of information get in the way of her having an opinion. I don't remember why she got going on politics one day but she started to say what political party she was and she stopped and looked at me and asked me what party Bill Clinton was. I said, "He's a Democrat." She said, "OK, then, I'm a Republican," and continued merrily on with whatever point she was trying to make. I sat there quietly blinking at the wall for several minutes before I could get back to work.

Has anyone seen John McCain and Sarah Palin's newest ad, "Original Mavericks"? The ad not only portrays McCain and Palin as mavericks, but more importantly it brags about McCain and Palin's history fighting Republicans. No mention is made of their opposition to all things Democrat. At no time during the ad does it mention that McCain and Palin ARE Republicans.

What does this mean? This means that between bouts of beating ourselves up, we should take a bow for forcing the McCain campaign to abandon its experience argument, and try to take the mantle of "change" from Obama. Several times during McCain's speech he parrotted the lines of Obama as his own. Worse, other Republican speakers demanded that the Republicans need to take back Washington!

Sadly, as noted above, a lot of Americans do not know basic facts such as the fact that McCain and Bush are in the same party, let alone that McCain's policies are the same as Bush's. Thus, it is possible for the McCain campaign to essentially con their way into Washington like that movie "A Perfect Gentleman" where Eddie Murphy won a congressional seat by running for office with the name of a deceased congressman.

Give credit where credit is due. The McCain campaign has done a wonderful job of creating the impression that they are the insurgent party trying to take back the White House. But, the real question and challenge is how long the McCain campaign can keep up this fraud even with the help of a compliant media?

The only way the McCain campaign has been able to get away with this is because the MSM has been able to focus on Palin, rather than examining the issues or record of McCain. However, can the GOP keep up the Palin soap opera stories alive long enough to avoid ugly truths like McCain/Palin are exactly the same as Bush/Cheney.

So, I want Obama to win. Yet, I find it amazing how the Republicans and Big Media can essentially reinvent reality such that McCain/Palin are the insurgents and Obama/Biden are the status quo. Everytime Obama/Biden speak they point out this fraud, but the interviews are rarely discussed beyond the interview itself. This would not be possible, except for the general lack of knowledge of current events.

Again, it requires an amazing effort on the part of Big Media to cooperate with this cover-up.

at his or her ballot, only then will that person realize McCain/Palin are repukes? I am assuming that states list the candidates' party along with their names. Anyone who is surprised by that revelation isn't well enough informed to be voting in the first place.

That it can get away with an ad the celebrates McCain and Palin for fighting against Republicans without mentioning that McCain and Palin are Republicans. If the McCain campaign did not think they could get away with confusing the electorate with respect to what party they belong to, and what actual policies they intend to implement, they would not be running these ads that make it somewhat difficult to determine at first glace what party McCain and Palin belong to.

See for youself. Check out the "Original Mavericks" commercial. If you didn't know better, you would think that McCain/Palin were the Democrats, since they fight Republicans and represent real change.

hard time believing that some voters are so ignorant they don't know what party the major candidates belong to. It's just mind boggling!

There are NO indications on McCain yards signs - etc. that identify him as republican. This is all intended to confuse the "low information" voter.

It will work if we let it.

The sun rises in the East, and McCain/Palin are both Republicans, like George Bush, so they are nto going to change squat if they are elected.

There needs to be like a civics quiz about goverment before these dumbasses vote. Seriously.

thought little chimp was his father. They literally thought they were voting for Papa Bush again.

The Democrats could just abandon all ethics, sell out to the major media corporations, to be competitive, but at that point, we cease to be Democrats.

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