2 and 1/2 years down the road

... and although they have a 5-point lead over the Liberals, the Harper Conservatives still haven't hit majority territory in the polls, according to the latest from Angus Reid:

"The governing Conservative party is holding on to the lead in Canada, according to a poll by Angus Reid Strategies. 35 per cent of respondents would support the Tories in the next federal election, while 30 per cent would vote for the opposition Liberal party.

The New Democratic Party (NDP) is third with 17 per cent, followed by the Bloc Québécois with nine per cent, and the Green party with eight per cent. Support for the Tories increased by two points since June, while backing for the Grits remained stable."

Harpie must be tearing his hair out. When the governing party in a minority government is still sitting at 35% after well over 2 years in power, the only positive thing that can be said about a "5-point lead" is that it isn't a 4-point lead. Things like this and this and this and this and this and... ahhh, you get it... are probably not helpful... ya think?

Massive poll a massive scam?

Woohoo, we're rollin' in polls!

It's been two weeks since polls done by Ipsos Reid and Angus Reid showed that 2/3 of Canadians support Dr. Morgentaler's Order of Canada. I was expecting anti-choicers to respond before now with some negative poll results they were able to glean through a combination of subterfuge and sleaze. So when I saw them crowing about a Massive Poll out today that said "56% of Canadians oppose Morgentaler Order of Canada", I thought "What took ya?". Oh well, it's summer for fetus fetishists too.

This latest poll was commissioned by "Campaign Life Coaltion". It's funny that when Canwest, a media chain with no agenda, commissions a poll, it comes out in favour; but when CLC, an anti-abortion group, commissions a poll, it gets the opposite results. Huh!? Indeed! Any poll about Morgentaler commissioned by an anti-abortion group lacks credibility for obvious reasons, and Birth Pangs takes the thing out to the woodshed here.

But never mind that, there are some other things bothering me about this poll. Although Campaign Life (who would never lie) says the question asked was a simple

"Do you believe abortionist Henry Morgentaler deserves the Order of Canada Press 1 for Yes Press 2 for No"

...we don't know that, do we? And unlike the Ipsos-Reid and Angus Reid polls, there's no way of checking it out. Why not? You'd think "KLRVU Polling", the research company out of Winnipeg who did the poll, could clear it up in one quick phone call, and they probably could... if they had a phone.

Huh!? I guess in this day and age there are still some tiny little companies that don't even have websites, but no phone?? So who is this "KLRVU polling"? Who knows? A real company? Or some fetus fetishizer working out of his mother's basement? It's awfully hard to know what to make of a poll's results when you can't even find any information on the company that conducted it. And, sadly, it doesn't help in the credibility department either.

UPDATE: It gets weirder. Not only does the polling company appear to be non-existent, but the random phone calling algorithm was provided to the polling company by another company that also appears to be non-existent. Here is what the CLC press release said:

"The Targeted Population was Canadian households, respondents were a result of a households that were selected at random, using a random algorithm provided by INFOLIST Canada, of Toronto, ON."

However, "INFOLIST Canada, of Toronto, ON" has the same phone number as "KLRVU polling": 1-800-TRY-AGAIN.

Predictably, their website is hard to find as well.

I should mention that at the end of the press release that ran in CNW, there's an actual phone number for KLRVU, 204-999-7446 (which for some reason lifesite didn't publish in their version of the press release). However, when I did a reverse lookup on it, 204-999-7446 came up as "unpublished". Now seriously, what kind of business has an "unpublished" number?

Meanwhile, hands firmly cupped over ears and screaming "LALALALALALA", the imbeciles are blogbursting this thing to beat the band! Who cares if the polling company doesn't exist? There's a number, it's published, they can see it, they like it! Freepology in action!

Non-freeped poll shows 2/3 support Morgentaler appointment

When all is said and done, when the freeping's finished and the fat lady's sung, the truth will always win out.

A recent NON-FREEPED CanWest survey showed that 2/3 -- that's TWO-THIRDS, 66%, .66, or 2 out of 3 -- of Canadians support Dr. Henry Morgentaler's appointment to the Order of Canada:

"Two out of three Canadians either support or somewhat support the appointment of Dr. Henry Morgentaler to the prestigious Order of Canada, reveals a new poll, which points out Prime Minister Stephen Harper is in the minority by voicing his "personal dissatisfaction" with the controversial nomination.

The survey, conducted exclusively for Canwest News Service and Global National, showed 65 per cent of Canadians favour awarding the high honour to the Toronto abortion doctor, while 35% are against it.

"Two-thirds support is very solid," John Wright, senior vice president of the polling firm Ipsos Reid, which surveyed 1,023 adults from July 4-7. "You're not going to do much better than that."" (emphasis delightedly mine)

This poll is of particular significance when you consider who commissioned it -- editorially, Canwest Global has been more opposed to the appointment. Which goes to show that the smirking anti-choice media elites don't speak for the people of Canada -- not only is Canada a solidly pro-choice nation, but we also believe in rewarding those responsible for making us that way.

The only question now is whether Bill Wartcott will be sending Canwest a package...

UPDATE: And speaking of negative Canwest editorials, it's a nice day for a fisking...

(h/t: Ti-Guy in the comments)

When good polls go bad

One can only wonder where the freepers were 3 weeks ago when this Angus Reid poll was done. It's bad news all around for fetus fetishists as the Sun reports, "Canada a pro-choice country: Poll":

"An overwhelming majority of Canadians continue to support women's right to abort pregnancies, but a recent national survey found the country is split when asked who should foot the bill. The online Angus-Reid poll -- conducted June 4 and 5 of 1,000 adult Canadians -- found 91% of respondents supported abortions under certain circumstances, and only 5% would outlaw it altogether." (emphasis -- hahahaha! -- mine)

91% Pro-Choice! That certainly got the propellers spinning on a few "FD" beanies:

"Online polls are notoriously stacked by organizations that spam them to get the desired result": NOOOOO! Outrageous! Who knew!? But when poll numbers don't go your way, what do you do? Give the messenger two behind the ear, that's what! Bang! Bang!:

While the Sun article could hardly be characterized as a "flat-out lie", I absolutely agree with the sentiment -- dishonesty, manipulation and all manner of odious and squalid lies and distortions should be retracted forthwith and the perpetrators beaten like junkyard dogs.

Democracy vs. Dictatorship

The Globe & Mail's latest poll (scroll down and to the right) asks "Purely in terms of efficiency, which system works best -- democracy or dictatorship?" The results thus far:I can almost hear the head explosions in Wingnutville as those little acorns rattling around inside their skulls try to cope with this new and disturbing information. Who could possibly vote for dictatorship? Who could even think dictatorship and democracy are "About the same"? The leftoid moonbat Globe & Mail readership, that's who! Jackbooted freedom-hating Nazi liberals, that's who!

This completely misses the fact that the key words in the survey are "purely in terms of efficiency" -- the survey doesn't ask which system is preferable, more humane, or more advantageous to the people living under it. In terms of efficiency only, dictatorship obviously "works best", because efficiency is about eliminating as many variables as possible, and dictatorship does that in spades. Variables include differing opinions, consensus, multi-partisan political constructs, and the will of the people, all of which are non-issues in a dictatorship. Remember Saddam Hussein's "election" a few years ago? The ballots said something to the effect of "Saddam: Yes or No", and he won 100% of the vote. That's nothing if not efficient.

Freedom is messy, as Donald Rumsfeld once famously said. But efficient? Not so much. And that's a good thing.

Environics - June

Interesting, as polls go. Reassuring to see that after 18 months in power, the Conservatives have been unable to increase their support significantly, and the support they do have is a little precarious. However, they're still in minority government territory, the Liberals having failed to capitalize on Dion's post-convention "bounce".

The biggest gains for the Conservatives have come in Vancouver of all places, apparently at the expense of the NDP. But even the muzzling of their extremist element hasn't helped the Conservatives solve Ontario, and Toronto in particular.

Source: Environics Research Group

Saturday morning Bush polls

From Pollster.com, polling results for the week of July 9:

Harris:

73% rate Bush's performance "poor" or "fair";
26% rate it "excellent" or "good"

70% say things in the US have "pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track";
19% say the country is "going in the right direction"

USA Today/Gallup:

76% say sending more troops to Iraq hasn't made any difference or made the situation worse;
22% say more troops have made things better

71% favour removing all troops from Iraq by April 2008;
26% oppose

And interestingly, the Pew news index:

70% say they "followed the news about current events and Iraq closely",
30% did not

Coincidence? Looking at these figures, one might surmise that the only people who approve of Georgie's performance, Iraq and the direction of the country in general are those who have no idea what the fuck is going on. Finally, an explanation for that mysterious 26% who continue to support Bush in spite of all the evidence that shows they should not. They just haven't seen the evidence.

Godless Canadians not so godless?

Canada is generally thought of as a pretty secular country, and yes, thank dog, our Governing Motor is on a completely different part of the national vehicle than our Toolbag of Worship. On opposite sides the garage, really. Christian fundies have long bemoaned our godless heatheness (heatheninity?)... but wait. What's this?

"Canadians may not be as religious as Americans, but a new poll suggests they are not prepared to rule out God's essential role in creation.

The Canadian Press-Decima Research survey suggests that 60 per cent of Canadians believe God had either a direct or indirect role in creating mankind, shattering the myth that Canadians had long ago put their faith strictly behind the scientific explanation for creation.

The poll suggests Canadians divide in essentially three groups on the issue of creation: 34 per cent of those polled said humans developed over millions of years under a process guided by God; 26 per cent said God created humans alone within the last 10,000 years or so; and 29 per cent said they believe evolution occurred with no help from God.

“These results reflect an essential Canadian tendency,” said pollster Bruce Anderson. “We are pretty secular, but pretty hesitant to embrace atheism.”"

How special! According to this poll, 60% of Canadians believe in either Creationism or Intelligent Design... 60%?? That's a Majority! Here comes the SoCon Revolution, marching as to war, armed with bibles and bloody coat-hangers, going on before.

Or not. I'm guessing that the way the questions were framed had a lot to do with the result. Example: Up until a few years ago, I was an agnostic. If I was asked, I'd say I was 99% sure there was no god, but in deference to the people who do believe, I'd add "but anything's possible". If I were asked whether I believed "humans developed over millions of years under a process guided by god" my answer would be similar -- millions of years? Yes. Guided by god? Hahaha, not fucking likely. But anything's possible. In a multiple choice question, I would have chosen the "maybe" or "possibly" answer, which would put me squarely in the "intelligent design" group, even though I was (and am) most vehemently not. See how this works? It's one of the reasons polls should never be taken as "gospel" (pun intended), although media outlets do it time and again, quite irresponsibly if you ask me. Seen in context with the poll's questions and answers, the results might tell us something completely different. In short, I'm not too concerned that christian government.ca might get its wish for bible-beating theocratic rule in Canada any time soon.

Odd. I can't find this poll on the Decima website, so I shot them an email to ask why. Maybe they're embarassed?