It’s not exactly a surprise that on the right, in the two states holding primaries tomorrow, Mississippi and Alabama, the anti-science Teaparty ignoramuses run the show. But data from the PPP poll on voter preferences below also held some interesting data about evolution and Obama that really drive home just how out of touch these voters are.
(DailyKos)
Alabama Republican Primary voters:
Do you think Barack Obama is a Christian or a Muslim, or are you not sure?
Christian: 14
Muslim: 45
Not sure: 41Do you believe in evolution, or not?
Believe in evolution: 26
Do not: 60
Not sure: 13Mississippi Republican Primary voters:
Do you think Barack Obama is a Christian or a Muslim, or are you not sure?
Christian: 12
Muslim: 52
Not sure: 36Do you believe in evolution, or not?
Believe in evolution: 22
Do not: 66
Not sure: 11
And if the poll had asked them where Obama was born, a solid majority would probably say, “Kenya”.
It times like this that I think the country would have been better off if we’d cut the south loose when we had the chance.
Numbers like those bug me but not necessarily for what they say on their face. Those questions are framed exactly in the language of the identity politics of the Xtian-Right. It’s very not surprising that the answers are counter to reality. These questions can’t get to what they actually believe about reality with the confounding variable in the way.
I think he numbers would be about the same in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, Arkansas, etc. especially if one polled in rural areas but I can tell you now the the boys at the local ice house think that way and it ain’t rural at all. Confirmation bias runs rampant…
Looks like ‘No Child Left Behind’ worked about as well as everything else Dubya started.
In such matters, what one believes is of little consequence. What are the facts?
What someone believes affects the actions they take. It does matter. And we all know the facts. The whole birther issue is thinly veiled racism.
I accept “not sure” as a valid answer. Not because he might be muslim, but because these people don’t view what he practices as christianity. I might even answer not sure to that question, because I think he might actually be an atheist, but can’t say so as a professional politician.
Mississippi is the state with the worst education standards and the least educated populous as well as the most obese. They also rank high in having loads of fundagelicals who have no capacity to think or reason and base everything on faith.
Alabama is not far behind.
Are the Dems any different in those states?
It times like this that I think the country would have been better off if we’d cut the south loose when we had the chance.
This is an incredibly stupid thing to say, not only for the effect a Confederate government would have had upon the slaves whose lives would have become much worse, but also for how it would have affected other people living there, the anti-monarchy movement, and for some pressing geopolitical issues of the time as well. Do you understand anything of what was happening in Mexico at the time? Do you even know that Grant sent 42,000 troops to Sheridan in 1867, troops that ended up in San Antonio, Houston and Brownsville? Or why? Are you aware that why they were there had zero to do with Reconstruction or keeping domestic peace?
I accept “not sure” as a valid answer. Not because he might be muslim, but because these people don’t view what he practices as christianity. I might even answer not sure to that question, because I think he might actually be an atheist, but can’t say so as a professional politician.
Don’t do that.
Christers constantly say that atheists aren’t really atheists, that we’re lying about it and are actually believers, but want attention, or are mad at how unfair life is or whatever stupid thing they can come up with to make themselves think they’re justified in believing in sky fairies.
To assume you know what anyone actually believes contrary to what they tell you is phenomenally stupid. Nobody is a mind-reader for one thing, and it’s insulting to tell Obama or me what only he or I could know about ourselves. It’s insulting to speak for either of us, when we are perfectly capable of doing that ourselves. All they, or you, or anyone else can go by is what we actually say about the matter, and second-guessing us about something none of you can ever know is arrogant and moronic.