People Distrust Corporations, Don't Know the Kochs, and Still Blame Bush for the Economy
PHILIP BUMP
A new poll from the Wall Street Journal and NBC reminds us of an important truism. For as much attention and time as some people (such as myself) pay to politics, many of the most volatile topics in punditry are nonvolatile mysteries to the rest of the country.
Much of the new poll doesn't do much to illuminate the dark corners of political thinking: Obamacare is still as unpopular as ever; Democrats and Republicans are about tied on the generic Congressional ballot. Fine, good. Here, instead, are the parts of the poll that struck me as being particularly interesting.
People haven't heard of several prominent political actors. If you read The Wire regularly — or, for that matter, any other site that talks politics — you probably not only have some sort of opinion of the Koch brothers but can articulate who they are, what they do, and what they advocate. That puts you, it appears, in a bare majority of Americans. Forty-nine percent of the country is not familiar with the Kochs. Twenty percent of the other half don't have a strong opinion about them.
The same goes for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the man who increasingly looks like he'll take over the reins of half of Congress next year. But 45 percent of the country isn't familiar with the guy.
more
http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/04/people-distrust-corporations-dont-know-the-kochs-and-still-blame-bush-for-the-economy/361449/
= new reply since forum marked as read
