Salon.com > Voters

Poll: 3 in 10 voters say “armed revolution might be necessary”

Wed, 01 May 2013 21:26:00 +0000

A new survey of voters by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind finds that 29 percent agree with the statement, “In the next few years, an armed revolution might be necessary in order to protect our liberties" - including 18 percent of Democrats, 27 percent of Independents and 44 percent of Republicans.

From the survey:

Only 38 percent of Americans who believe a revolution might be necessary support additional gun control legislation, compared with 62 percent of those who don’t think an armed revolt will be needed. “The differences in views of gun legislation are really a function of differences in what people believe guns are for,” said Cassino. “If you truly believe an armed revolution is possible in the near future, you need weapons and you’re going to be wary about government efforts to take them away.”

The poll also found that 25 percent of those surveyed "think that facts about the shootings at Sandy Hook elementary last year are being hidden." 11 percent are unsure.

h/t TPM.

5 groups who shouldn’t be able to vote, according to Ted Nugent

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 19:47:00 +0000

The American right has so embraced the “makers versus takers” narrative (entirely false from the get-go) that despite a lot of talk about soul-searching and trying to reach out to people who aren't old, white and angry, they're having a hard time keeping their true feelings from the public.

Washed-up, draft-dodging '70s rocker Ted Nugent has never tried to obscure his extremism, and this week he offered an idea that is supposedly related to a budget deal. After exposing his impressive ignorance of the federal budget, especially “entitlements," Nugent offered up a modest proposal:

Let's also stop the insanity by suspending the right to vote of any American who is on welfare. Once they get off welfare and are self-sustaining, they get their right to vote restored. No American on welfare should have the right to vote for tax increases on those Americans who are working and paying taxes to support them. That's insane.

Weird news: Zero voter turnout for one Minneapolis precinct

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 22:59:00 +0000

MINNEAPOLIS — Not one voter cast a ballot in one Minneapolis precinct on Election Day. That's because the only living species in Ward 10, Precinct 3B, is of the aquatic variety.

A newly redistricted precinct map shows 3B is located entirely in the eastern half of Lake Calhoun - the biggest lake in Minneapolis. City Clerk Casey Carl says the watery precinct is the "unintentional result of a programming error" made in drawing new ward boundary lines.

Charter Commission chairman Barry Clegg tells the Star Tribune that the mapping software couldn't draw a line around the edge of the lake without putting a census block in the wrong ward. Clegg says it was supposed to be cleaned up for the final map, but never was.

Exit poll: Obama more in touch

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 01:49:00 +0000

More preliminary results from a national exit poll in Tuesday’s elections for The Associated Press and the television networks, a survey of 19,728 voters by Edison Research:

— 52 percent of voters said President Barack Obama is more in touch with people like them, compared to 44 percent for Republican Mitt Romney.

— About 4 in 10 voters said the U.S. economy was getting better, while 3 in 10 said it was getting worse, and 3 in 10 said it was the same.

— Just under 50 percent of voters favored repealing some or all of Obamacare. Forty-three percent preferred that the health care law be expanded or left as is.

— Only 3 in 10 voters said that most illegal immigrants working in the U.S. should be deported, while nearly two-thirds said such people should be offered a chance to apply for legal status.