Things people know that just aren't so
Published December 23, 2013
by Alex Adrianson, Insider Online, December 20, 2013.
Voters are woefully misinformed about public policy issues, according to a recent poll by the Just Facts Foundation.
Most voters, for example, seem to think the tax code sticks it to the little guy while letting the fats cats slide. According to the poll, only 4 percent of Democratic voters and 31 percent of Republican voters know that the top 1 percent of income earners pay a higher federal tax rate than the middle class. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the top 1 percent pays an average federal tax rate of 29.4 percent. Meanwhile, the 20 percent of taxpayers exactly in the middle of the income distribution pay only 11.5 percent. [See: “The Distribution of Household Income and Federal Taxes, 2010,” Congressional Budget Office, December 2013]
Voters, especially Democrats, are also confused about how much of the federal budget is devoted to defense spending. The poll found that only 18 percent of Democratic voters and 58 percent of Republican voters know that the federal government spends more money on social programs than on national defense. In fact, roughly 60 percent of federal spending goes to social programs, and only about 20 percent goes to national defense. [See: “National Debt Facts,” by James D. Agresti. Just Facts Foundation, April 26, 2011, updated December 2, 2013]
One more finding: Voters in both parties significantly overestimate how big a problem hunger is. The poll found that only 6 percent of Democratic voters and only 13 percent of Republican voters know that on an average day in America, less than 1 percent of households with children have even one child who experiences hunger. The precise figure, according to the U.S. Census Bureau is 0.18 percent. [See: “Hunger Games: Reporters and Pundits Greatly Exaggerate Hunger in America,” by James D. Agresti, Just Facts Daily, April 11, 2013]
Based on these three questions alone, there would appear to be a lot of low-hanging fruit for conservatives working to educate the public about issues like inequality, federal spending, and poverty. For the results for 16 other questions, see “Poll Reveals Voters Misinformed about Key Issues,” by James D. Agresti, Just Facts Daily, December 20.
December 23, 2013 at 11:23 am
Norm Kelly says:
Just these 3 questions show some startling results.
Democrats are twice as ignorant about facts that affect them as Republicans are.
DemocRAT politicians pray for ignorant voters, so they can then prey ON those same voters. By keeping their voters in the dark, Demoncrat politicians are able to implement programs that 'sound good' but are unnecessary because their premise is wrong, 'feel good' because it's 'supposed' to help some disadvantaged group but actually only gives the central planners more control. Most of the time Demons implement their unnecessary programs claiming that it will only cost 'the wealthy' to support it, it will 'benefit' the 'disadvantaged', improve the economy, and actually make the deficit shrink.
And what's the worst tidbit of information to come out of this poll, based just on these 3 questions? The outrageous fact that voters who support Demoncrats are perfectly happy being ignorant of the world around them. So long as they have their 'reality' tv shows to distract them, it appears way too many Americans are content not to know anything. The challenge I have with this is that their ignorance has a negative affect on my life. If they spend half as much time educating themselves as they do entertaining themselves, not only would the country be in better shape, my life would be less impacted. Of course, this would also mean that K would not be senator, Pelosi would not be queen, Price would be replaced, and Obama would never have had a chance to occupy any office let alone become King.
For those of you who might try to read this post who are libs, here's a news flash for you. If you finally decide to educate yourself on the realities of life, this means you will be forced to turn off CNN, MSNBC (nbc of any variety actually), avoid morning entertainment programs, instead searching out real information. There are websites dedicated to providing facts. There are news stations dedicated to providing facts. Reality tv isn't even real. (sorry to burst your bubble!) Welcome to reality. We've been waiting for you. Now that you are experiencing real life, now that you know some information, it's time you checked out your local TEA people group and got involved. It's because of your ignorance and laziness that this country is where it is today. Join the TEA people in your community to continue your education. But join them with the intent to listen and learn, not to do the bidding of your old lib buddies and try to disrupt or discredit the TEA people. Consider this just another resource for continuing your education. We'll continue to pray for your growth and education. We'll be patient. You just need to promise that when you say you have an open mind, it's really open and not just what the Demons call an open mind. Most people's minds are so open their brains fall out. This is a typical lib voter. We want you to have an open mind so that information can penetrate it and make a difference. Please keep your brains inside so they continue to be useful.
(when i say that you will be forced to turn off certain tv stations, i don't mean the way libs mean 'forced'. when a lib says forced, they mean that the central planners will take control and limit my options. when i say 'forced', i mean that in order to educate yourself, you will feel compelled to make different choices. you will feel compelled from within to make a change, not forced by the central planners to make a change because it suits their needs, but because it suits your needs. see the difference? that's the difference between progressivism and freedom/conservatism. 'progressivism' is someone else making a choice for you, regardless of how you react to this choice, regardless of how it limits your choices. 'conservatism' is you making a choice from all the possibilities, 'freedom' means that the market allows there to be many choices available to you to make choices from. 'choices' versus 'choice'. notice that when there is only 1 choice - progressivism - there is actually no choice at all. think of obamacare and you will begin to understand the definition of 'choice' in the minds of the central planners.)
December 23, 2013 at 7:25 pm
Vicky Hutter says:
It is very difficult for the average American citizen to know what to believe since there is so much disinformation and spin put out by the politicos in order to manipulate the voting populace.
It's very similar to the video clips on television asking for money to sponsor starving children in third-world countries---from the clips you would think the entire population was destitute and starving. The reality is frequently that the clip and the photographs were very selectively shown and the American public has no idea that the country with these "starving" children has wealthy people, affluent cities or corrupt governments that steal the money that could be used to feed their own people--so too trusting Americans borrow money from China to send to help the unfortunate which frequently never reaches the intended recipients.
