Loading... True or a Lie? Propaganda machine?
An USA Today/Gallup poll named Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton as the most admired man and woman alive. Do you think this is true or total B.S.?
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Stacie L says
Polls are very deceiving. we don't know the total number of people polled,their demographic location,gender,economic status,political party,etc.
17 % of a total isn't very high.
writeronline says
I think what Stacie L says is right on the money.
But, assuming you're quoting the result literally, I'd also ask,
Are we to believe this result encompasses the whole world?
How many people outside the US were included in the USA Today/Gallup poll?
Absent that information, the claim should probably be " According to the results of a domestic US poll, where total respondent numbers are clearly not sufficient to equate to a representative standard of world opinion, Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton were rated the most admired man and woman alive - in the USA."
It should probably also have a rider saying, 'Selected from a preset list of nominees prepared by USA Today Editors and Gallup Poll research strategists"
Finally, (sorry to go on, I just hate seeing all this pseudo-research posing as truth), I haven't seen the poll, and won't be wasting time looking, but unless either of the two achieved a vote above 50% of the total ratings, it would be more honest to say, 'Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton were rated least un-admired.'
Poll results are like statistics. Fodder for spin merchants.
Winston Churchill understood how powerfully manipulative statistics can be, when he rated them in sequence, "Lies. Damn lies. And statistics"
Old Empresario says
I don't admire them at all. All politicians are just geeks who want to be famous, but who are too ugly for television and not built for sports.
Pcunix says
I wouldn't say I admire either of them, but I respect their intelligence and generally agree with their political stances.
As we are rather short of people worthy of even tepid admiration today, it may well be true that these two would be at or near the top of such a list.
Of course if you are one of the diminishing number of Tea Party folks, you may still be full of anger and more.
brittanytodd says
I don't think so. We have to be so careful reading poll results. People may have just clicked on those options because they didn't have any better ones or didn't know any of the other candidates. What a strange result.
soumyasrajan says
There is a famous book "how to lie with Statistics"
Polls are often conducted in manner which does not take care of such possibilities.
American View says
Well polls are decieving for many reasons. I would not say I admire them I do respect them for the positions they hold. I do not agree with Obama policies in any way. On the other hand Clinton has grown politically with her new job. She has done a far better job than I gave her credit for when she was appointed.
xethonxq says
Admiration is probably not the correct word. I like them both, but I wouldn't say I admire them. They are interesting...maybe even intriguing. I certainly think Barack has a charismatic quality about him. Hillary might be more enigmatic...not sure.
Nancy's Niche says
My personal opinion; it's BS! Obama recently signed onto the NDAA bill, which, if you’ve read up on it, is the destruction of our liberties, and freedoms...This is the same bill that he claimed he would veto and last Friday, he signed it!
For your information: http://www.aclu.org/lgbt-rights-reproductive-freed
ptosis says

Who were the other choices in this biased poll?
All the people who died in 2011?
Muammar al-Qaddfi
Kim Jong-il
and
Osama bin Laden
?!?!?!?!
sandy1973mypetdog says
I would have to disagree, not two people that are admirable, the definition of that word does not fit the two in my opinion. It is a poll, that's all, so take it for what you want.
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