That's not a survey

In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)
#1

Been getting a lot of these damn things lately in the snailmail pile. PLEASE TAKE TIME TO ANSWER OUR OPINION SURVEY. POLL FOR DEMOCRATIC PARTY SUPPORTERS.
I’m totally a pushover for any organization that wants my opinion. I think everyone should have my opinion and I’m very much inclined to give it, with or without solicitation, so for an organization that I’m a part of to try to get in touch with what the rank and file participants think should be their priorities is going to meet with my approval.

But if you’re only doing this to butter me up before hitting me up for additional contributions, you’re going to have to do better than this, this is fucking insulting:

The United States government has assigned marijuana the same drug classification as heroin. Do you agree with this classification? (yeah, I joined NORML because I couldn’t find a form for joining Timothy Leary’s International Foundation for Internal Freedom, and I think marijuana and heroin should be assigned to the same category and legalize them both. Gimme a break)
**The GOP candidates have all made it clear they would slash taxes for the wealthy first-and-foremost. Who do you believe most needs a tax cut during this recovery? Middle Class Americans / The Wealthy / No One ** (Ooh, I bet you get a lot of folks saying ‘No One’. That’s the spirit, shoulder to the wheel, right?)

How important is it to regain Democratic majorities in Congress and put another Democrat in the Oval Office in 2016? (Hmm, I dunno as how that’s the strategy that I’d go with. I can see some advantages but have you really given thought to how much we could get done with a Republican majority remaining in Congress and a Republican taking over the Oval Office instead? I mean, think about it long and carefully…)
(not to point specifically at the Democratic Party as if they were the only ones doing this, but they’ll do as a blatant example)

#2

Certainly isn’t at all. I also noticed that second question doesn’t mention tax cuts for the poor. I can’t imagine that people up to their ears in debt could use a tax cut.

I’m just a Canadian though, I can’t really say anything about American politics.

#3

I love political phone surveys. Unless I am literally headed out the door or the kitchen is on fire, I’ll answer one. I’ve had a few that seemed to go on forever.

I figure answering an actual poll is probably a thousand times more effective in affecting the political landscape than a single vote by me is.

But yeah, some of the polls are TERRIBLY designed. And some are just terribly designed and some are obviously designed to get the answer they want.

#4

Poor people in the US don’t pay federal taxes.

But this survey is trolling for donations - poor people don’t have enough money to donate to the Democrats to make it worthwhile to troll them.

Regards,
Shodan

#5

Ah, thanks, I didn’t know for sure if that’s how it works.

Bit of a shame that helping the poor isn’t a bigger priority, they’re only useful to support a campaign if they can afford to, and they can’t afford to unless a campaign that supports them gets elected.

#6

Federal income taxes. Poor people in the US pay plenty of other federal taxes.

#7

Meh, that’s nothing. Here are a couple of questions from the latest survey by my local Congressperson.

Do you believe educational standards should be set by federal government bureaucrats or by state and local teachers and parents?

Do you support using more domestic energy sources, like coal and natural gas, to lower energy costs and create jobs?

How about if I believe state and local bureaucrats are setting standards, or whether I believe the cost of energy is independent of where it’s produced?

#8

They are called push polls and they have little or nothing to do with measuring your opinion.
The goal, as you recognized, is to influence your opinion. It’s not research, it’s marketing.

#9

Yeah. It’s nothing more than this:

It’s simply intended to set the emotional stage then deliver the call for help. As the OP says, it’s insulting to anyone with half a brain. But that’s not who the electorate is turning into.

The fact they keep doing it tells us it works. As I said in another post today, there are no pretty girls in a case of beer. But there sure are in beer ads. So evidently girls successfully sell beer even though it contains no actual, you know, girls.

Manufactured outrage and the illusion of voicing your outrage sells donations. People is stupid, and especially in large movements.

#10

They pay plenty of state taxes, but what federal taxes are they paying of any significance? Fed taxes on gas and…?

#11

…it’s a Space Station.

I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

#12

8% social security and medicare tax. Which they pay on every dollar of income with no exemptions or exclusions or limits.

I used to own a small business with about 30 low-wage workers. In a state with no state income tax. It was eye opening the difference between what I paid per hour in wages + my share of their taxes versus what they took home per hour in wages after their share of their taxes.

I paid federal SS, Medicare, & FUTA. Plus state unemployment & workers comp, for which we had a very low rating & low premiums. Then they paid income taxes, SS, & Medicare. We also had a crappy cheapo medical plan designed to be “affordable” for them.

They were nominally $7.50/hour workers (back when the minimum age was 4.50). IIRC they cost me about $10.50/hour and their take-home was less than $5/hour after the medical insurance, or just over $6/hour without it.

IOW, when you look at the total tax burden, a just over minimum wage worker is carrying a boat load. And again this was in a state with zero income tax. Had we had that too, the take-home fraction would have been even less.

#13

I just threw my own Democratic Party push poll/survey in the trash.

Although it was tempting to fill the thing out emphasizing how much I want to tax the middle class, raise the average Earth temperature 50 degrees, trash women’s rights and elect Karl Rove to be Emperor.

#14

You mean he’s not already? :smiley:

#15

Let’s ask Admiral Ackbar what he thinks! Better yet, Crocodile Dundee!

#16

Bet you’ve never seen those two in the same room at the same time, have you? What’s that tell us? Hmmm. Enquiring minds want to know. :smiley:

#17

I started getting these things in the mail from the ACLU after I gave some money to something that was left-leaning in theory. At first I thought that they actually wanted my opinion, but it turned out that all of them were worded specifically to cause me to be irritated at the actions of conservatives, and they conveniently had a standard donation that they suggested I return along with the results of the poll. I suspect that they don’t even bother looking at the results of the poll, and just take the checks to the bank.

That was the first time I ever gave money to any charity, and I did it more in the continuance of their service to the community in terms of their continuing education efforts that I was taking part in, and considered it something like a payment for services rendered. I don’t know how long it’ll take for my name to get off everyone’s books as a potential donor, but I don’t think I’m making the same mistake in giving money to a national organization again. I went to private schools throughout my education, and they’re perfectly worthy of my money should I have more than I know what to do with at some point in my life. The rest of the blood-suckers can get lost.