Tag Archives: independents

Poll: Republicans More Likely Than Dems to Say Vaccinations Should be Parents’ Choice

by OnaCogburn Posted on February 3, 2015

Mother Jones

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According to a new report from the Pew Research Center, vaccine beliefs are divided along party lines. A poll found that 1 out of 3 Republicans and Independents said the decision to vaccinate should be a parent’s choice, compared to 1 out of 5 Democrats.

The poll also found that young adults are more likely than their older counterparts to believe that parents should be able to choose whether to vaccinate a child. An estimated 41 percent of 18-to-29-years olds believed it should be a parent’s decision, compared to just 20 percent of adults 65 years or older.

Some attribute this divide to the fact that Measles have become rare since 1963, when the first Measles vaccine was introduced. In 1958, there were 750,000 cases of the disease. By 1968 this number had fallen to 22,000. By 2000 there were only 86 confirmed Measles cases reported to the CDC. Number stayed low until 2014 when the Center for Disease Control reported an outbreak of more than 600 cases. It was the first spike in a decade and was largely linked to unvaccinated Amish communities in Ohio.

This is Pew’s first report on this question since 2009; however, it is interesting to note that the data was amassed in August 2014—months before the current Measles outbreak that has resulted in more than 100 cases across 14 states.

Original article:

Poll: Republicans More Likely Than Dems to Say Vaccinations Should be Parents’ Choice

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The Rise of the Self-Loathing Partisan

by KarryFmnsdvfq Posted on January 10, 2014

Mother Jones

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Why do so many people call themselves independents even though they mostly vote for one party pretty consistently? Yanna Krupnikov and Samara Klar describe a study they just completed that asked people to rate photographs of two affluent neighborhoods:

Some respondents saw pictures of the neighborhoods without any political signs, and some saw these very same neighborhoods with just one small addition: a political campaign sign on one of the well-manicured lawns.

When people were reminded of partisan disagreement, they consistently rated the neighborhood with the political sign as being a less desirable place to live. In addition, more than 60 percent also reported that they would not even want to attend an event with people who lived in that neighborhood.

Yeah but I’ll bet all those intolerant jerks were narrow-minded tea-party Republicans. No wait. I mean they were probably arrogant, sanctimonious Democrats. No no. Hold on again. I’ll bet they were really smug, pox-on-both-your-houses “moderates.” See? I can do that all day long. Anyway, let’s forge ahead with the Science™:

In a similar study, we showed people photographs of strangers. We told some of our participants that the strangers were Independents, and we told others that the strangers were partisans. We found that when people were reminded of partisan disagreement, they rated photographs of Independents as being more attractive than photographs of partisans — even when, by objective standards, the partisans were actually more attractive.

Bottom line: Krupnikov and Klar find that (a) most people don’t like engaging with partisans, but (b) are themselves mostly partisan, no matter what they actually call themselves. This makes sense to me. Engaging with conservatives is obviously annoying for me, since I’m a liberal and I think they’re wrong about everything. But engaging with liberals can be kind of annoying too. After all, liberals are annoying, always trying to tell you that the power structure is oppressive and factory-farmed beef is an outrage and you should be more concerned about lead in the environment, blah blah blah. Better to just find a nice independent and chew the fat about whether Andrew Luck has what it takes to put Tom Brady out to pasture tomorrow.

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The Rise of the Self-Loathing Partisan

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Most Protestant pastors don’t think climate change is real

by ansonsten Posted on April 22, 2013

Most Protestant pastors don’t think climate change is real

By John Upton

Shutterstock

Say, God, who do you think is turning the weather weird?

A majority of Protestant pastors in the U.S. fail to grasp the scientific fact that humans are turning the weather weird. But, hey, at least they recycle!

Asked whether they “believe global warming is real and man made,” only 43 percent of Protestant pastors said “yes” during a a recent survey by LifeWay Research, an arm of a company that sells Bibles, church supplies, and the like. That was up from 36 percent in 2010 but less than the 47 percent who said “yes” in 2008.

Unsurprisingly, Democratic pastors are far more likely to understand human-induced climate change than Republican ones. But in an odd twist, the older pastors are more likely to get climate change than their younger colleagues. Way to be, church seniors.

From a summary of the survey findings:

Pastors identifying as Democrats are the most likely to strongly agree (76 percent) in the validity of man-made global warming, followed by Independents (20 percent). Just 7 percent of Republican pastors strongly agree. Conversely, Republican pastors are the most likely to strongly disagree (49 percent), followed by Independents (35 percent) and Democrats (5 percent).

“Pastor opinions on global warming reflect their own political beliefs,” said Scott McConnell, director of LifeWay Research. “The pendulum of public and pastor opinions on man-made global warming is swinging back toward agreement but still lacks a majority.” …

The survey also reveals pastors age 65 or older put more stock in the validity of global warming over their younger counterparts. This group is more likely (32 percent) than pastors age 45-54 (20 percent) and 18-44 (19 percent) to strongly agree with the statement: “I believe global warming is real and man made.”

While there’s confusion among these leaders about who is actually influencing the weather, at least most of them are into recycling. Again from the research summary:

Recycling programs … [are] well established among churches. More than 60 percent of Protestant pastors say their church has an active recycling program in place at their church building while a third (34 percent) do not.

“More churches are proactively recycling and reducing carbon emissions in urban areas,” McConnell said. “While this may reflect being attentive to local community needs, it also may simply be a reflection of municipal regulations or the economic pressure on utility bills. Either way, it seems to be good news that churches are caring more about the environment and acting accordingly.”

Hurrah for recycling, but boo for climate ignorance. Could we respectfully suggest that you get your information about climate change from scientists rather than your pastor?

John Upton is a science aficionado and green news junkie who

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Most Protestant pastors don’t think climate change is real

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