Question: What is his REAL first name?
Willard!
Betcha didn’t know that. I didn’t. But at least I didn’t think it was “Mittens”
[spoiler] “Mitt” is apparently diminutive of “Milton”, since Romney was named in part after his father’s cousin Milton “Mitt” Rmney, quarterback for the Chicago Bears in 1925-9. And why didn’t we hear that interesting tidbit of news more often?
[/spoiler]
So… “2% of Alericans are fucking with a poll” is not a possible explanation?
So our next President will be named Willard, Newt or Barack? Truly, the dream of Millard Filmore, that one day Presidential Candidates won’t be judged by the wackiness of their first name but by the content of their character, has come to pass.
Definitely a possibility. But only 6% came up with the right answer, which doesn’t seem right. That sugests to me that the 2% aren’t simply “screwing with the poll” – they really don’t know the answer, which is why they’re screwing with the poll. I mean, after all
Very clearly 2% of Americans don’t think that. It means that 2% chose that option in a multiple guess poll.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you could produce a poll indicating 2% of Americans think their own first name is Mittens.
Oh, sure. Some of those 2% are answering “Mittens” to screw with the poll, some are screwing with the poll because they really don’t know the answer, some might think it really was a viable answer and are just guessing and some are answering based on the voices in their head.
I think that the only real reason to even ask a question like this is because we want to know how informed people are about the presidential candidates. And the only thing we can take away from this is that people are really really uninformed about the candidates. I wish I were more surprised.
While I actually agree with your conclusion, I don’t believe the facts support that the sign that the public is uninformed about a candidate is that they are unaware of what is written on his birth certificate.
What his parents named him has no bearing on his potential as President so why should that be something crucial for the electorate to remember?
Agreed. Mitten’s has also never actually been a candidate for National office, so what the general US population knows about him isn’t really a measure of what “voters know about their candidates” in anycase. Presumably if he wins the GOP nomination people will pay more attention (and also late night comedians will start making fun of his real first name)
Well, I’ve only ever read “Mittens” on exmormon and postmormon forums. I assumed it was just an insult. I think it’s likely that 2% of the respondents were perfectly happy to insult Mr. Mittens. Hell, I call him that, even though I knew damn well his name is Willard. I know people named Willard, and Mittens is no Willard.
:: D& R ::
Seconded. If I saw this poll and one of the answers was “Mittens,” I don’t think I could restrain myself from picking it.
Where does the “Mittens” thing come from? I’ve heard it a couple places, but I’m not really sure what the source is.
Perhaps. But I think the people who created the poll thought it would be an indicator, which is why they included it.
Unless they included the question for the very purpose of getting a result like this. So that they could get a big juicy headline like “2% of American think Romney’s first name is Mittens. Come look at our poll to see how stupid people are! Put us on the news!”
Which meant the pollsters are screwing with the public as well. So everyone is screwing everyone else and I haven’t been invited to the orgy. Typical, really.
I just hope when the convention comes along, he picks a running mate named “Ben.”
FTR: His actual first name is “Willard.” His middle name is “Mitt,” which is short for nothing, it’s just “Mitt.”
Rom Mittney, you mean?
Or Newt Romnich?
Ging Newtney, perhaps?
Mute Nomrich? Mutt Newtney? Nit Gingrey? Ham Sandwich?
I’d vote for any of these nominees (or “mutinies”) if I saw them on my ballot. After I finished laughing, of course.
My opinion of him would actually improve if his real name were “Mittens.”
This makes no sense - everyone knows Gromit is the smart one, saving Wallace’s butt whenever one of his “cracking” contraptions goes awry - How anyone could confuse that w/ Mittens is beyond me (and for Simplico - ‘Mittens’ is simply a derogatory play on the name ‘Mitt’, since Mittens routinely fails to shows voters he is deserving of any sort of respect - I definitely remember it being used during the 2008 Republican primary)
It might be if I knew what the heck an Alerican was. 
I swear, sometimes I think I’m invisible.
from the Original Post:
I also observed that the 2% saying “Mittens” was his name probably because they didn’t know his name three posts before Trion did.