Rasmussen has a recent poll showing opposition to Obama’s release of the torture memos:
Most voters (58%) shared Cheney’s view on a related topic, that the release of CIA memos about the harsh interrogation methods used on terrorism suspects endangers U.S. national security.
Forty-one percent (41%) of voters have a favorable view of Cheney, with 15% very favorable. Most voters (53%) have an unfavorable opinion of President George W. Bush’s number two, including 37% who view him very unfavorably.
Other recent polls show Cheney with a much lower approval rating — between 18 and 30 percent depending on the poll. And here’s the exact question that yielded the 58% opposing the release of the torture memos:
Does the release of CIA memos on interrogation techniques help the image of the United States abroad or does it endanger the national security of the United States?
Not many respondents are going to say that the release helps the image of the United States, because the argument for that is fairly complex — we look good for being honest about the past — so this clearly skews towards a response that the memos endanger national security.
Reporters like Glenn Thrush ought to stop repeating Rasumssen date, given the track record.
(In complete fairness, note that another Rasmussen poll shows Americans not agreeing with Cheney that Obama has made the country less safe in general.)
robertdsc
These are two entirely separate questions. Jeeze.
Hunter Gathers
Well, I guess the economy isn’t bad enough to keep crappy pollsters from finding work.
HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker
I’m sorry but ….
kommrade reproductive vigor
Do Rasmussen polls smell of cotton candy or are you just happy to see me?
Little Dreamer
Why is one’s opinion of the release of the photos supposed to be equated with their opinion of Cheney? Is Cheney so insecure that he needs a Rasmussen poll to prove he is still relevant?
I don’t think the release of the photos will do anything to better the huge rift that has been created in the civil discourse of citizens in this nation, does that mean I agree with Cheney? The fear and warmongering of that fucking jerk makes me want to gag.
Martin
Ras must not realize that Cheney’s family is not a representative sample.
DougJ
Good question.
Tonal Crow
Raz is GOPaganda, pure and simple.
Little Dreamer
Interesting that this poll came out within hours after Cheney’s request for certain documents to clear him of any wrongdoing was denied.
geg6
I wish I’d get polled by Rasmussen with their loaded questions just once. Just so I could answer by asking wtf kind of stupid wingnut was writing their questions. Isn’t an either/or question supposed to have some sort of equivalence between the two choices? I mean, isn’t equivalence their specialty? Oh, wait…that’s false equivalence. My bad.
sgwhiteinfla
You always have to go to Rasmussen’s questions to understand how the polls get their numbers.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/pt_survey_toplines/may_2009/toplines_cheney_may_12_13_2009.
By the way I don’t see the thing about the 58% agreeing with Cheney but I did see this.
4* Cheney says America is less safe because of changes President Obama has made in national security. Do you agree or disagree with Cheney’s statement that America is now less safe?
38% Agree
51% Disagree
10% Not sure
Dennis-SGMM
Did canny pollster Rasmussen reveal which of the Confederate states provided his data?
sgwhiteinfla
Never mind
geg6
In other good news today, GWB-annointed US attorney Mary Beth Buchanan was smacked down but good when her vendetta…I mean, persecution…er, years long corruption case against Cyril Wecht was tossed by a federal judge, along with a rather scathing criticism from the bench. If you aren’t familiar with the Wecht case, you may remember Buchanan as the USA who went after Tommy Chong in a similarly…well, let’s call it focused way. She also refused to resign when requested by the new Democrat Socialist president. Hee hee.
geg6
Damn. Moderation. I forgot. Grrrr. Sorry.
Mnemosyne
I’m still wondering how many calls they had to dump in order to get that 40% approval rating for Cheney.
TenguPhule
And with two directly conflicting answers to boot.
LMMA!
TenguPhule
None, they just used the NRC’s call list for polling.
harlana pepper
Dammit, as is the norm, I am late to the cat thread and virtually alone! Can we start a sort of never-ending cat thread? Hmmm?
harlana pepper
On topic, how can the numbers be that high when, while he was in office, approval rating was like 17%. WTF?
Oh, I guess it’s all those “torture rocks” Sunday bobblehead appearances. I’m sure that’s really turned people around. (rolls eyes)
harlana pepper
@harlana pepper: How can people extrapolate an approval rating from a question about release of the torture memos? This requires some wicked mental contortion. In what universe does this make sense?
anonevent
@harlana pepper: Statistics – Cheney’s popularity is the hidden variable that determines whether or not people’s approval of Obama has made our country less safe.
RP
Take a look at Pollster’s cumulative Obama approval rating chart. There’s one consistent outlier…
BruinKid
@RP: Well, that’s mostly due to the way Rasmussen phrases the approval question. Instead of just two categories, they have four (Strongly Approve, Somewhat Approve, Somewhat Disapprove and Strongly Disapprove).
Rasmussen himself even notes how this can affect the results.
So that would imply that given Obama’s popularity, some respondents are thus saying “somewhat disapprove” just to voice a minority opinion, rather than saying “undecided/not sure”. And so Obama’s net approval would be artificially lowered because of this.
Comrade Sock Puppet of the Great Satan
“Forty-one percent (41%) of voters have a favorable view of Cheney, with 15% very favorable. Most voters (53%) have an unfavorable opinion of President George W. Bush’s number two, including 37% who view him very unfavorably. ”
There’s your answer. Rasmussen is good with election polls (much better than Zogby); but attitude-type polls like this he shows his GOP roots. Rasmussen drums up business with controversial polls like this, Zogby drums up publicity by using a crappy methodology that produces volatile results.
mongo
I strongly suspect that they pull from known Republican mailing lists. I recently subscribed to Outdoor Life magazine. Now, I get calls from all manner of Republican causes including the NRA. And I have been polled by Rasmussen in the last 100 days. I never got calls from Rasmussen when I subscribed to American Prospect.
Joel
Rasmussen did great in the presidential polls. What gives with their opinion polling? Nate Silver needs to get on this.