A Political Rhetoric Test

[Richard]

What's in a word? An interesting recent survey.

Richard's $.02

"Socialism" Not So Negative, "Capitalism" Not So Positive
Pew Research Center, 4 May 2010

“Socialism” is a negative for most Americans, but certainly not all Americans. “Capitalism” is regarded positively by a majority of the public, though it is a thin majority. There are certain segments of the public – notably, young people and Democrats – where both “isms” are rated about equally. And while most Americans have a negative reaction to the word “militia,” the term is viewed more positively by Republican men than most other groups.

These are among the findings of a national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press that tests reactions to words and phrases frequently used in current political discourse. Overall, 29% say they have a positive reaction to the word “socialism,” while 59% react negatively. The public’s impressions of “capitalism,” though far more positive, are somewhat mixed. Slightly more than half (52%) react positively to the word “capitalism,” compared with 37% who say they have a negative reaction.

(cont'd) http://people-press.org/report/610/socialism-capitalism

[JJ_BPK]

1)Interesting they used "progressive" . I have had this nagging feeling that 98% of the world has no idea what it means.


2)I consider myself fair at math but abysmal at statics. Why would you "weight" a survey based on the type of phone??

• Is there some statistical advantage to calling a cell phone. in the likelihood of getting a Liberal to answer??
• If the phone rings more than 3 times is it a Republican??
• Are you likely to get a Liberal if you ping a snotberry, eyepod, or blueteeth??
• Are Conservatives likely to be on a 1G network??
• Are land lines more Liberal, than water lines or air lines??

Results for this survey are based on telephone interviews conducted under the direction of Princeton Survey Research Associates International among a national sample of 1,546 adults living in the continental United States, 18 years of age or older, from April 21-26, 2010 (1,006 respondents were interviewed on a landline telephone, and 540 were interviewed on a cell phone, including 203 who had no landline telephone). Both the landline and cell phone samples were provided by Survey Sampling International. Interviews were conducted in English. For detailed information about our survey methodology, see http://people-press.org/methodology/.

The combined landline and cell phone sample are weighted using an iterative technique that matches gender, age, education, race/ethnicity, region, and population density to parameters from the March 2009 Census Bureau's Current Population Survey. The sample is also weighted to match current patterns of telephone status and relative usage of landline and cell phones (for those with both), based on extrapolations from the 2009 National Health Interview Survey. The weighting procedure also accounts for the fact that respondents with both landline and cell phones have a greater probability of being included in the combined sample and adjusts for household size within the landline sample. Sampling errors and statistical tests of significance take into account the effect of weighting.

http://people-press.org/report/610/socialism-capitalism

Thanks Richard, I need this, my brain is off-line..

[VA Pete]

I find it interesting that

1. The highest negative response to "libertarian", when broken out, is among Republicans (44%).
2. "States rights" has such a high showing -- it was my impression that in most peoples minds these days that phrase was more associated with justification for segregation than anything else. Happy to be proven wrong.