Poll: Americans Oppose Non-Existent Threat Of Replacing Dollar
Keep in mind that this would hardly be the first time that public opinion turned on things that weren't true. It can very often be more important what voters think is being proposed, rather than what is actually going on.
The pollster's analysis acknowledges: "At issue is not replacing the money in Americans' wallets but what currency will be the world standard against which all other monies are measured." But the questions themselves don't clearly make this distinction for the respondents, asking about the proposal "to replace the dollar with a new global currency."
To a degree, this was a deliberate choice, Scott Rasmussen told TPM. "I was really curious where the suspicion level was going to be on this particular question," said Rasmussen, noting that this is a story that hasn't been discussed or explained very much, and where public opinion is very fluid.
Rasmussen found that only 19% are following the issue very closely. But a 46% plurality would favor a bill to prevent the dollar from being replaced -- that's Bachmann's bill, though she isn't named -- and 33% would oppose the bill. When asked whether the proposals are "designed to help the global economy or to weaken the economic power of the United States," 49% say it's about weakening the United States, to only 21% saying it's about helping the global economy. And 70% say it's very important that the dollar remain the currency of the United States, with 18% somewhat important.
Now remember that even if a new global money were adopted in some form, the dollar would not actually be replaced as the currency of the United States in domestic use. But what if that misperception were to linger in the public's mind, and efforts failed to convince people otherwise? Would Bachmann and others have real political capital?
"If the idea got around that this meant replacing the currency in your wallet," Rasmussen told me, "then absolutely there would be support building for protecting the dollar."
Josh
Matt
Eric
Brian
So if you poll on an issue that people really don't know much about...and you ask them a bunch of misleading questions...you get what?
Garbage in, garbage out. Some things never change.
March 31, 2009 1:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
more like crap in, shit out.
April 1, 2009 8:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
This solidifies why Rasmussen is a ridiculous pollster that skews towards republicans.
March 31, 2009 1:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rasmussen has a long history with the Cato Institute. He polls accordingly.
March 31, 2009 5:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Does this count as a push-poll?
March 31, 2009 1:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, because a push poll is not really a poll and isn't intended to collect data.
This could possibly fall into a category called "testing negatives," in which a pollster asks you about bad things in order to see how the issue actually plays out.
The point of a push-poll is to get people on the phone and tell them awful stuff. Testing negatives is about telling respondents awful stuff, and then collecting the numbers and analyzing how they react.
March 31, 2009 2:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
But isn't this just Rasmussen trying to get on the phone with people and scare them? Or did he make sure to inform them that abandoning the dollar wasn't really on the table at all?
April 1, 2009 8:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
If there's anybody who still didn't realize that Rasmussen is a right-wing tool, this oughta do the trick.
March 31, 2009 1:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Poll Result :
Most Americans are heartily opposed to robot attack ...
Also opposed to a global dictatorship run by Kang and Kodos after they arrive in a flying saucer ...
Also opposed to having their guns, bibles, cable TV, grilled steaks and beer taken away by an international occupation army sent here from the UN
March 31, 2009 2:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe they should ask people what they think about nincompoop pollsters asking ridiculous questions.
March 31, 2009 4:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're darn tootin' I want protection from Purple People Eaters. And absolutely I would support the bill to do so!
What is wrong with Obama and the Democrats? Don't they want to protect America?
March 31, 2009 2:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Damn Brian Skuse, you beat me to it!
March 31, 2009 2:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
hee hee ! that post wrote itself
March 31, 2009 2:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
By a 3-1 margin, they're also opposed to carving out a homeland for talking animals called "Aslan" from the states of the Southwest.
By a 2-1 margin, likely voters oppose the imposition of Sharia law in cigar bars.
59% of respondents opposed or strongly opposed appointing Jerimiah Wright "national pastor."
Strong majorities oppose the appointment of celibrity doctors Dr. Doom, Dr. Evil, Dr. No, and near-celibrity Dr. Drakken, to be surgeon general. A plurality support the appointment of Dr. Pepper. 30% said he should be allowed to upgrade his seargent's uniform to admiral's rank rather than trading it in on one of those quasi-naval outfits.
March 31, 2009 4:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Count me in favor of replacing the dollar - it's the ugliest currency I know of. How about the Netherlands Antilles Guilder?
March 31, 2009 2:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh?
"Now remember that even if a new global money were adopted in some form, the dollar would not actually be replaced as the currency of the United States in domestic use."
That happened in Europe with the Euro, right? How can you dictate that it would not happen here?
The article was pretty good, but it stinks on this point. The China floater re SDRs is only one possible change, and the Rasmussen poll was clearly designed to confuse the issues for Rasmussen's sake.
Is Rasmussen doing political rent-seeking here? That is, what is he trying to manipulate? This poll was not mere empty curiousity on his part. How does this poll affect things, like framing?
March 31, 2009 2:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
It happened after much debate over many, many years with the Euro. Not only has no one in Congress or the White House suggested a replacement, all of those asked have said they would never do such a thing.
I feel comfortable "dictating" that it won't happen here. At least not within the next 30 years or so. (I'd give it less than 1% chance of it happening within the next century, but much, much less than that of it happening in the next 30 years, to the point that such a possibility is on par with the possibility of the Earth blinking out of existence due to quantum anti-alignment of probability states. It'd really stink if that were to happen. Perhaps we should pass a bill making such an act illegal?)
March 31, 2009 2:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're skipping the premise, the "If..." part of the quote!
Yes, Michelle does have a way, doesn't she!
March 31, 2009 7:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, the euro was adopted with the intent of being a common currency; it didn't start out as a reserve and then they pulled a bait-and-switch.
March 31, 2009 7:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
That doesn't dispute the point. The Euro and the Amero or the Globo might well take different paths to the same end.
I think the time frame of interest is measured in years not decades.
March 31, 2009 7:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
I know everyone finds this just hilarious, but it's exactly the sort of nonsense that, combined with the "Obama is a socialist" could potentially stick.
And Scott Rasmussen is doing all he can to make this grow adhesive.
"I was really curious where the suspicion level was going to be on this particular question," said Rasmussen, noting that this is a story that hasn't been discussed or explained very much, and where public opinion is very fluid.
You were really curious about a complete non-issue? Why would that be?
And if the story hasn't been discussed or explained very much, how the heck does he know that "public opinion is very fluid"?
March 31, 2009 2:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is an absurd poll, of course. It isn't only the fabrication of a tempest in a teapot but the results aren't helpful to Bachman either. She is flapping around with this because she doesn't BELIEVE Obama or Geitner when they say they, too are opposed to a "global" currency.
Why should she believe the poll results?
There is no logical difference.
Of course, Bachman has no truck with logic; gives her a headache.
March 31, 2009 2:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're giving Bachman either more credit for her honesty or less credit for her intelligence than I would. I think she knows that neither Obama nor Geithner would do such a thing, but she also knows that most of the public is too busy and/or lazy to understand that there is no real threat. Someone on the left (not Obama, IMO) needs to push back and make clear that this is the equivalent of selling shark repellent to people swimming in Lake Erie.
March 31, 2009 2:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
If you give her any credit at all for intelligence then you must not be very familiar with her. Go back through past video clips and quotes and you'll see that she's a genuine, sincere, loon.
March 31, 2009 7:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, maybe I just lack your imagination, but I have a hard time imagining anyone could be as sincerely loony as her, so I'm forced to leap to the assumption that it's at least partly an act.
April 1, 2009 9:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well if Geithner wasn't regularly smeared by everybody, I think most folks would realize this was a silly non-issue.
March 31, 2009 2:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is there anybody left who puts any credence at all in Rasmussen's polling? They're about as credible as the Republican Party itself.
March 31, 2009 2:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Please replace my dollars with toxic derivative credit default swaps.
Oh wait, you already did that.
Never mind.
March 31, 2009 3:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Brilliant! LOL
March 31, 2009 9:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Like the traditional media, it appears that Scott Rasmussen chooses what issues to poll based on Drudge headlines. He's basically a right-wing reactionary pollster - if Drudge is linking to it, if Malkin is chanting about it, then he's damned well going to poll it...and his questions will sound like they were written by FoxNews writers.
The guy pretty much nailed last year's general election results but his issue polling is terrible.
March 31, 2009 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
If only some pollsters had been willing to poll on the impeachment of Bush and Cheney in 2007-2008. Then a "non-issue" could have become an issue.
March 31, 2009 4:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
A one-world currency is standard dispensationalist theology, implying that the antichrist is behind the global financial meltdown. That this wrong-headed fundamentalist theology underlies a lot of what is taken for "conservatism" doesn't get the attention it deserves. In fact, membership in a fundamentalist evangelical church is a common strand among this crowd, with obvious exceptions for the outspokenly virulent media personalities who are their, uh, false prophets.
March 31, 2009 4:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
And Scott Rasmussen straddles the line. Is he a false prophet or a true believer? He is the president of the Ocean Grove (NJ) Camp Meeting Association (http://www.ogcma.org/) but you won't hear him mention any of his Christianist view when he's on FoxNews.
March 31, 2009 4:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
I know. It sounds like a conspiracy theory, yet its literally true. Just like when you tell people they literally talk to code to each other, in a lexicon that sacribes entirely different meanings to ordinary words like "liberty." People look at you like you're raving about Illuminati and freemasons, yet
Mitt Romney's Bizarroworld version of the JFK speech was a particularly chilling example of the genre. The MSM heard "I'm a religious guy, but it will only affect the way I govern by providing an unthreatening, generic secular morality." The theocrats, however, heard "I am one of you." Fortunately, they didn't believe him.
March 31, 2009 5:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Reading the text of the proposed Constitutional amendment, Bachmann would not only prevent us from using, say, "Ameros" or "International Dollars" as US currency, it would also prevent us from using the following dangerous world currencies:
And she got 29 co-sponsors? Don't these people read what they sponsor?
March 31, 2009 4:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why bother? It's not like it's going to pass and the people they're trying to impress with this won't read the amendment, either.
March 31, 2009 4:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why do I have this awful feeling that's what they were saying when they passed the 18th?
March 31, 2009 5:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
The worst part about this poll is the information it leaves out: namely that having the reserve currency in the current global political macroeconomy also means getting devalued against by competitors that take American manufacturing jobs. This of course is probably the lesser of its malign effects given that in the process of so doing, it has unambiguously contributed (some say caused) to the current gargantuan financial/economic crisis, whose effects are mostly in front of us. Just another example of why this democracy is so troubled- the dominance of misinformers like Scott Rasmusen and Roger Ailes, and the inability of the truth to get a hearing above the noise.
March 31, 2009 5:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Everything Republicans believe, think and do is based entirely on Bullshit. This is just one of the more blatant examples.
My favorite is that Tax breaks increase revenue. Its obviously bullshit, but they and most of the mainstream media believe it. Another is that Ronny Reagan was one of the best Presidents everwhen in reality he ran the most corrupt administration in the 20th century and is responcible for a lot of what is happening today.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/10/17/194133/16
March 31, 2009 7:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great for Obama, now when he does nothing and stays with the dollar it will look like he did a good job.
March 31, 2009 7:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Everything Republicans believe, think and do is based entirely on Bullshit."
Isn't that true of most everyone, Demo or Repo?
March 31, 2009 7:44 PM | Reply | Permalink