Comments on: Who Would the World Elect?

By: Umlud

Umlud — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 00:01:00 +0000

I agree completely, and it’s completely unlikely that the above poll does any of that, which is why one shouldn’t look at it as anything more than a rough comparative representation, and nothing approaching the polls that we got to watch (ad nauseum) during August – October.

By: decius

decius — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 01:46:00 +0000

The -typical- random sample is representative, but if you simply select from the space of ‘sets of n people from the population’, treating all of those sets as equally likely (naive random sample), you are only likely to get a representative sample, not certain.

Proper sample selection protocols are pretty much the opposite of random- their goal being to select a group which is proven to be representative of all of the known variables.

By: Umlud

Umlud — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 01:25:00 +0000

By definition, a perfectly random sample is representative of a population, but – due to the vagaries of sampling in human populations – human population samples are anything but random. (And – of course – there is that whole question of whether true randomness can actually be attained, but that’s a different tangent.) You are right to say that sample selection protocols are very important when trying to conduct useful polling of human populations. However, even recognizing this point, I doubt that this was seriously pursued in this case. To that end, I would doubt the veracity of the actual number, but not the comparative magnitude of the differences between the candidates for each country.

By: Victor Quartermaine

Victor Quartermaine — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 17:03:00 +0000

Thanks, now I don’t know if I am a socialist or a Socialist. One more thing to worry about ;-)

By: Pakistani-Sociology-Enthusiast

Pakistani-Sociology-Enthusiast — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 06:40:00 +0000

Yes! The failure to talk about methodology has led to the perception that Pakistan would vote for Romney. Two other major problems are 1) This poll was done in JULY (in Pakistan) and 2) Subsequent polling data shows different results.

For #1, Romney hadn’t said anything substantial about Pakistan, and I don’t recall any major reporting in Pakistan about Rombney’s positions that would’ve led to a wave of support. This leads me to conclude that the people who picked Romney actually did not do so because of the policies he articulated, but just because he was the new face and because the drone policy is unpopular here.

For #2 we can look at other polling data – from as recently after the July poll as August and September – and we see a pro-Obama difference.

http://www.gallup.com.pk/pollsshow.php?id=2012-08-08
http://www.gallup.com.pk/pollsshow.php?id=2012-09-28but again, you can see that most people do not pick either or do not think it would make a difference.you can also kind of see the importance of ‘national interest’ as a factor in this poll:http://www.gallup.com.pk/pollsshow.php?id=2012-09-27

By: mimimur

mimimur — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 19:50:00 +0000

Well that is true in part, but for the individual household it will still be a very similar effect when not having to worry about hospital bills.

By: anon

anon — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 23:26:00 +0000

Honestly, I’m sick of arguing with overgrown adolescents…

You’re not arguing at all. You’re resorting to name-calling and embarrassingly transparent rhetoric.

It’s astonishing to me that you think only considerations of vogue could motivate one not to vote for Obama. For all the social phenomena you find objectionable, somehow assassinating US citizens is not one of them?

By: Anna

Anna — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 20:57:00 +0000

That’s interesting. I admit I haven’t had any discussions about Mormons with anyone, so I can only glean what Europeans’ perspectives of them might be from the media. It may be that you are right.

By: Anna

Anna — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 20:52:00 +0000

“I cannot always tell which is being used.”

Me neither. Actually, that has led to some quite heated misunderstandings on this blog. Some cross-cultural-related posts, such as this one, are uncomfortably xenocentrist on some issues, which can be as harmful and limited as ethnocentrism. To me, it is a strong sign that even people who are interested/knowledgable in social theory and policy need to constantly work on their intercultural competence (not to be confused with cultural relativism).

By: anon

anon — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 19:23:00 +0000

Obviously people have to pay for health care if anyone is going to have any at all. The question is how we will pay for health care.

I am of the opinion that universal health coverage is a good idea, but it’s important not to confuse broad social insurance with “free health care”.

You could see a similar mistake made earlier this year in the debates over “free birth control”, (again, I think cross-subsidizing birth control is basically a good idea) which turned the entire discussion into a conceptual muddle.

By: decius

decius — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 19:17:00 +0000

I don’t like the fact that the titles of political opinions (socialist, liberal, conservative, progressive) have English meanings the are incompatible with the positions they represent. Capital-S Socialism means something different than socialist does, and I cannot always tell which is being used.

I know that the ranges of political power in the US are different than the ranges elsewhere; is there a first-world country that is broadly permissive while still ensuring that basic needs, utilities, and mail service are provided to everyone who wants them, and is accepting immigrants?

By: Tusconian

Tusconian — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 18:47:00 +0000

Honestly, I’m sick of arguing with overgrown adolescents who are stuck in a constant sea of jaded ennui. “Ooooooh, my one vote won’t make a difference.” Wah wah wah, what, were these people not around during the 2000 elections? No, a single vote does not matter. If everyone who’s just oh-so-over-it, who opposes Romney but just finds Obama soooooo passe votes Jill Stein/stays home moping, yes, it will have an effect in a race this close. It happened 12 damn years ago. How easily we forget.

By: Tusconian

Tusconian — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 18:41:00 +0000

It has to be the US’s fault that a Dutch politician is an asshat? Excuse me, but Europeans need to get out of their ivory tower and examine their own faults within their societies (and yes, rape culture is just as big, if not bigger, in Europe than it is in the US) instead of blaming the American media every time one of their own fails.

By: mimimur

mimimur — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 17:37:00 +0000

Remember that we have ideologies too. As Lisa Wade hinted at, the political power tends to run between Socialist- Liberal – Conservative than just Liberal- Conservative, meaning that there is a whole ‘nother frame of reference and that we take diferent things for granted than you do. For example, any coverage of health care would likely devolve into pure outrage that people actually have to pay for it.

By: mimimur

mimimur — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 17:32:00 +0000

You’re probably right in that.