The irredeemable 27 percent

[prog]

Found via Making Light, a 2005 post on Kung Fu Monkey that's become relevant again as Bush's poll numbers have broken the 30-percent barrier (traveling downward, I mean) in several major polls.

Comments

[radtea.livejournal.com]

Fascinating--it would appear that there really is a strong floor at about 25%. Nixon managed to get as low as 22 or 23 percent, but that is within error of 25.

Ergo, once a president has an approval rating of less than 30%, the people who still support him will continue to do so no matter what.

Conversely, if Bush's popularity were to fall below 20% it would be a clear declaration that even crazy Americans realize how much damage he has done to your nation.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

But why are they all crazy in the same WAY? That's driving me nuts.

[radtea.livejournal.com]

They aren't.

Let's be nice and say that on what passes for the left in the U.S. there are 23% of the people who would support a Democrat no matter what. I give the Democrats a lower number because there is good evidence that Bush voters are actually delusional, believing a raft of falsehoods about his actual positions, and Kerry voters in the last election had a much better knowledge of the facts about each candidates' position.

So the sum total of crazy people is close to or perhaps slightly above 50%.

It may be that the proportion of crazy people fluctuates with time, so that back in the Nixon era the Republican base really was only 22% (Nixon's lowest popularity rating in the months before he cut and ran.) Which leads me to suggest that the health of a nation is closely related to the total fraction of crazy people, and when it exceeds 50% things get very bad indeed.

[aspartaimee.livejournal.com]

also, mccain faces money woes and is letting staffers go.

[prog.livejournal.com]

I've heard. What sux is that Romney's star ascends as a result. If McCain disappoints me, Romney frightens me. AFAICT he's the Handmaid's Tale candidate.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

As far as I can tell, they are ALL Handmaid's Tale material, except Giuliani, but he's still got enough of a scary facistic streak to completely cancel out his slightly-socially-liberal stance on a couple issues.

[prog.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Giuliani is lost potential a lot like McCain. He could have used his position to take a really stunning independent stance on the terrorist threat as it actually stands, but instead he uses it to try pushing the Bushian "Ooh, watch out, terrists gonna gitcha!!" message further than anyone else so far. Very sad.

[misuba.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine is standing at the ready to have a Nixon party if Bush's approval rating hits 24%.