"44% Of America Literally Has No Idea How The Economy Works"

[applegrove]

44% Of America Literally Has No Idea How The Economy Works


by Brett LoGiurato at the Business Insider

http://www.businessinsider.com/debt-ceiling-poll-obama-boehner-government-shutdown-2013-9

"SNIP............................


A new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll shows that 44% of Americans don't believe that Congress should raise the debt ceiling — a troubling sign that suggests a large chunk of Americans don't understand the consequences that would come from that decision.

....................

Economists agree that failure to raise the debt ceiling would be a catastrophe, and cost of even a temporary delay are estimated at a whopping $20 billion. The debt-ceiling fight in 2011 cost the U.S. a downgrade in its credit rating.

But Friday's poll suggests that public ignorance over the issue could be a boon for Republicans in any negotiations. Only 22% think that Congress should raise the debt ceiling, and opponents outnumber supporters by a 2-to-1 margin.

If the 2011 negotiations are any indication, public awareness could grow as the debt ceiling gains more attention and as the consequences become clearer. In a June 2011 NBC/WSJ poll, Americans opposed raising the debt ceiling by a 39-28 margin. A month later, Americans supported it by a 38-31 margin.



............................SNIP"

[Peacetrain]

1. Only 44%

I would have thought it higher... people let their politics get in front of their ability to think so many times..

[Uncle Joe]

2. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, applegrove.

[MannyGoldstein]

3. Larry Summers has company. nt

[bhikkhu]

4. Likely a garbage poll, but definitely garbage reporting

any story that reports the "results" of a poll without specifying what question exactly was asked...

Having looked around the internet a bit, lots of stories about this poll, but no one seems to say what the question was that was answered. I don't have a WSJ subscription to see if they have it there. Anybody know what was the actual poll question was?

[applegrove]

5. an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll as I found here at Huffington Post

"In an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released Friday, 44 percent of respondents said they are against raising the debt ceiling, while 22 percent said it should be raised so the U.S. avoids "going into bankruptcy and defaulting on its obligations." The remaining third said they are unsure."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/13/debt-ceiling-poll_n_3920977.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

[bhikkhu]

6. Again, what was the question that was asked?

Not to be abrasive, but everyone here should be familiar with "push-polling", and any journalist should include in the story about a poll the actual polling question. Paraphrasing doesn't cut it, and has been used to great advantage too often by the right wing, and by unscrupulous writers just trying to stir s**t and rack up page hits.