American primary voters have been experiencing a really tough time making decisions on hard issues they are facing in this year's presidential election. According to Public Policy Polling, a private polling company based in North Carolina that has been credited as being one of the most accurate polling sources in the country, voters are divided amongst themselves over banning Muslims from entering the United States, creating a national database to keep track of Muslims that are already here, whether or not they agree with our governments decision to institute Japanese interment camps during the second World War and most importantly, if we should carpet bomb Agrabah.
In it's poll the PPP asked more than 530 Republican primary voters if they would support, oppose or were not sure if we should bomb Agrabah. 57% said they were not sure. 30% said they supported the bombing while 13% were against it. On the Democratic side, 19% supported the action, 36% were opposed and 45% were on the fence. The poll also showed that not only were an astonishing amount of people asked concerned enough about Agrabah to take military action against the country, 36% believed that thousands of Arab Americans in New Jersey cheered from across the Hudson when the towers fell on 9/11, 54% supported banning Muslims, 46% supported creating a national database to monitor them and an average of one in four believe that Islam should be illegal in the US as well as supported the governments interment of Japanese Americans through WWII.
For those of my fellow Observers that have already caught on (especially those who have children) it will come as no surprise that the biggest problem with some voters wanting to attack Agrabah is that it doesn't exist. I'm sure it does sound familiar to a lot of people and as well it should. Disney made the city famous in the 1992 animated movie Aladdin. That's right, my loyal reader, over one third of the people polled on both sides of the aisle supported bombing the crap out of Aladdin, Jasmine, Abu, Raja, The Sultan, Jafar and Iago. I think the Genie and Carpet will be safe from the B1s though. The jury is still out on just exactly what we are going to do about Narnia, Alderran, Latveria, Middle Earth and Krypton.
Now some may get a chuckle out of all this, but you won't hear me laughing too much. I find it disturbing that even though most polled responded that they weren't sure if we should bomb the fictional city, an alarming amount supported the attack while not even knowing if the city existed or not. It also bothers me that this is not an isolated incident. In another recent poll people were asked if they were in support or against president Obama repealing the 1975 Public Affair Act. Never heard of it? Not to worry because it never existed either, but that didn't stop GOPers from disagreeing with the president's decision, that he never made, over repealing a law that didn't exist. To be fair, the poll also showed that most Democrats were in favor of it until some were told that it was the Republicans that wanted to quash the policy, that is.
I must admit that I do find it amusing when I see these man or woman "on the street" bits ask people questions about what they think about Kanye buying the Leaning Tower of Pisa or how they felt about the president quoting rap lyrics at the State of the Union Address, but there's a difference. That's entertainment and it doesn't matter from the beginning. People weighing in on issues that don't exist, know little or nothing about is a little more unsettling to me than whether or not they think a movie that was never made will win a Golden Globe. Especially if the subject matter of the question is real, such as the Japanese interment camps or an issue that would be unjustified to pursue based on our Constitution, such as banning Muslims, creating a way to monitor them and making their religion illegal to practice. To me, these opinions are more dangerous to society than bombing a city that can't be bombed.
Mixing in fraudulent questions among actual issues is a way polling demonstrates that people will often answer questions that they know nothing about, offer opinions on situations that aren't real and make decisions about topics that don't exist. A lot of the answers given to these bogus or misleading poll questions are based on prejudice, fear and pride instead of honesty. Responders simply don't want to let those that are asking know that they are uninformed about a situation, let their personal feelings lead them or allow their worries to get the better of them.
Another thing the PPP showed a few months ago is that a lot of voters don't know who exactly is running in this upcoming election even within their own party. Last year, at the beginning of the presidential race, Independent candidate, Deez Nuts showed support from 9% of those polled in North Carolina, 8% in Minnesota and 7% in Iowa. Nuts, as of then, had better results in those polls than Marco Rubio, John Kasich, Chris Christie, Jim Webb, Lincoln Chafee, Mike Huckabee and Carly Fiorina. Deez Nuts turned out to be a 15 year old sophomore from Iowa named Brady Olson that filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission for president. A more recent poll has shown that Deez is falling behind with 17% of voter support going to Captain Crunch. Nuts is in second with 9%, followed by Beast Mode in third with 5%. In last place, Limberbutt McCubbins has 1% even though he turned out to be a cat (not a hipster dude, but an actual cat) from Kentucky that Deez has stated would choose as his running mate if he is nominated. One thing that is becoming painfully clear is that whoever wins this political race farce will be a better choice for America than the actual candidates that will eventually win the nominations.
The sad truth in all this is what these polls show the most is that a large amount of voters are misinformed about the candidates, the issues and who stands for what. Let alone what countries and candidates are actually real. Even though I understand that some of those asked were aware of the joke and replied in kind, what concerns me the most is that although the majority of people asked about blowing Agrabah off the fictitious world map said they weren't sure, over one third wanted to bomb that terrorist sounding city twice, three times on Sunday and send all it's storybook citizens to Allah in a star spangled, rocket red glaring hand basket. Now we can scoff at their ignorance at the moment, but remember these people will be pulling a lever in a voting booth in just 9 short months. I repeat.... I'm not laughing. I'll be the first to concede that the way it looks as of today (although a lot of people will probably disagree with me) it isn't going to matter all that much as to who ends up running in either party given our options. However, we should be knowledgeable about the choices we do have in order to make the best decision we can in the worst situation. Sometimes when faced with limitations, the lesser of two evils is the best decision we can make. Supporting military intervention on a city that only exists in the wonderful world of Disney may sound ridiculous to most, but it's better than voting in a politician that promises to do it. Strictly an Observation. If you'll excuse me, I have to put on my McCubbins button.
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