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July 21, 2008

Myth of the Stupid Voter

Rick Moran
Many of us seem to get caught up in the day to day tug of war of the presidential race, worrying whether the "people" will "understand" the true nature of this event or that one.

The unspoken premise made by many of us is that the American voter is stupid and easily misled. This is a prevalant attitude taken by both sides but especially liberals who have been whining for years that conservatives have "fooled" the American people into voting against their economic interests.

Well, guess what. It shouldn't surprise you that the American people are a lot smarter than most of us give them credit for. They may not pay as close attention to the race as some of our readers and writers on this site, but they apparently are smart enough to see a pig in the poke when it's offered to them.

This survey by Rasmussen should be an eye opener for those who believe the American voters is too stupid to see through the bias being shown by the media toward Obama.

The belief that reporters are trying to help Barack Obama win the fall campaign has grown by five percentage points over the past month. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey found that 49% of voters believe most reporters will try to help Obama with their coverage, up from 44% a month ago.

Just 14% believe most reporters will try to help John McCain win, little changed from 13% a month ago. Just one voter in four (24%) believes that most reporters will try to offer unbiased coverage.

Fully 27% of Democrats believe reporters are trying to help their own man while only 21% of Democrats believe that press is biased in McCain's favor.

Among Republicans, an astonishing 78% see bias in favor of Obama with just 10% seeing an effort by the press to be fair.

Here's a kicker:

As for unaffiliated voters, 50% see a pro-Obama bias and 21% see unbiased coverage. Just 12% of those not affiliated with either major party believe the reporters are trying to help McCain.

In a more general sense, 45% say that most reporters would hide information if it hurt the candidate they wanted to win. Just 30% disagree and 25% are not sure. Democrats are evenly divided as to whether a reporter would release such information while Republicans and unaffiliated voters have less confidence in the reporters.

Half the country's independents see through the efforts of the press to favor Obama. What that means for the election no one can say. However, it could be that the American people don't like the press being cheerleaders and will take it out on Obama unless the press starts to honestly report on the messiah and his many and varied gaffs.

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