Liberals, take a long look in the mirror: evidence shows you're more poorly informed & less tolerant

Minneapolis Star Tribune ^ | May 5, 2012 | KATHERINE KERSTEN

[rhema]

We've got a vivid picture of the Republicans and conservatives in our midst. They're a sour, dour lot -- close-minded, tight-fisted and intolerant. Some are businesspeople, greedy and self-interested. Others are rednecks, poorly informed, clinging to their guns and religion.

If only these folks understood political issues better and cared more about their fellow man, they'd be liberals, right?

Think again. A growing body of research is shattering this conventional wisdom.

Survey data make clear that Republicans, on average, are better informed than Democrats about political issues. Data from the American National Election Study has confirmed this over the years, and an April 2012 Pew Research Center survey -- "What the Public Knows about the Political Parties" -- is the latest to document it.

On eight of the survey's 13 questions about politics, Republicans outperformed Democrats by an average of 18 percentage points. "Republicans fare substantially better than Democrats on several questions in the survey, as is typically the case in surveys about political knowledge," according to the study.

The widest gap -- 30 points -- came on a question about which political party is "generally more supportive of reducing the size of federal government." Seventy-six percent of Republicans, but only 46 percent of Democrats, correctly named the GOP.

Republicans even know more about Democratic leaders: 75 percent of Republicans identified Nancy Pelosi as a Democrat, vs. 59 percent of Democrats. And while 73 percent of Republicans knew Franklin Roosevelt was a Democrat, only 58 percent of Democrats did.

But surely liberals, widely praised for tolerance, are more open-minded than conservatives toward people with different views? Whoops.

A March 2012 Pew report, entitled "Social Networking Sites and Politics," found that 28 percent of liberals have "blocked, unfriended or hidden someone" on social-networking sites because of their political postings, compared with

[rhema]

A March 2012 Pew report, entitled "Social Networking Sites and Politics," found that 28 percent of liberals have "blocked, unfriended or hidden someone" on social-networking sites because of their political postings, compared with 16 percent of conservatives.

Come to think of it, that shouldn't surprise anyone who's spent time on a college campus. We're used to hearing that left-wing students have shouted down a conservative speaker. But when did you last hear about conservative students silencing a liberal speaker?

[LouAvul]

Liberals are the absolute bane of civilization and complete wastes of oxygen. The world would be a better place if they simply walked into the ocean. And kept walking. Jaws would love it and it would be the first time they did anything to benefit anybody.

[Navy Patriot]

KATHERINE KERSTEN, soon to be “missed” by friends at the Red Star Tribune.

[Bullish]

And besides that.... Liberals smell bad too.

[Navy Patriot]

So it’s you that’s been poisoning sharks lately.

[SusaninOhio]

What gave them away? The fact that a lib cannot comment without using filthy words and attacking the speaker/writer, or the fact that libs can’t form a grammatical sentence while frothing at the mouth?

I love it when a lib replies ‘You idiot’ and other charming sentiments to something I wrote. That is sure to win me over to their side (whatever it is, they are frothing and swearing so much it is usually hard to tell what their side IS) -

I have seen this consistently as I am sure all of us have. They have no control over their mouths or their keystrokes and simply spew whatever nonsense they last read on Liberal Matters or Politico (after the swearing, the name-calling and the frothing, of course).

I wish they would use some originality in their name-calling. The same claptrap becomes quite boring after a while.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Don’t be dissin’ us rednecks

[SandRat]

Liberals are so slimy and sour it would give Jaws an upset stomach.

[HiTech RedNeck]

They're a sour, dour lot

Trivia: sour and dour are eye rhymes, but dour actually rhymes with boor and doesn't sound like dower.

[WashingtonSource]

Bump

[Skooz]

BFL

[St.Mark]

What can I say SusaninOhio I agree well said!

[I Drive Too Fast]

File this under Duh.

[rhema]

And let's not forget the refined and genteel signs they invariably carry at their rampages rallies.

[zoso82t]

I’m certain no one reading this is surprised. On the whole, FReepers are a brilliant bunch, especially compared to the cranial diarrhea that comes from the left. It’s not hard to be civil when you’re right!

[RC one]

the average democratic voter isn’t smart enough to survive in the wild. The average republican is smart enough to thrive in the wild.

[rlmorel]

This is an analysis I did comparing a liberal protest (when antiwar liberals marched on Washington in 2007 at the Gathering of Eagles on 3/17/2007, to a conservative protest in 2009, the March on Washington on 9/12/2009. Both times I stood with the DC Chapter, a bunch of dedicated conservatives.

What stuck me most was the difference in our signage, liberals versus conservatives

This is from the Gathering of Eagles in 2007 as the liberals came over the Memorial Bridge, we waited for them in the circle. This is what we saw. Look closely at the signs:

...and contrast it with the Taxpayer's March on Washington 9/12/2009:

It is my conclusion that these empty headed liberal jackasses don't have an original thought in their heads. They have to have someone print up signs for them, and any original ones looked like they were either done with crayons, or had foul language in them. Again, contrasted with the conservative signs, the conservative signs were well crafted, original, and often entertaining or witty, but made the points without resorting to profanity.

[rlmorel]

See my post at #18...

[rlmorel]

If you REALLY want to get a snapshot of the typical Democrat voter, watch John Ziegler's "Media Malpractice: How Obama got Elected and Palin was Targeted".

The video itself is good, but the real meat of it, why the mechanics of what the liberal media did is played out in one of the features of the documentary.

They went to a Obama rally, and interviewed people waiting to go in.

They asked:

What party currently controls congress?
I don't know
Republicans
Republicans
Republicans
Republicans
I don't know

Do you know who Barney Frank is? How about Nancy Pelosi? Harry Reid?
I don't know
She's pretty cool
I don't know who that is
I don't know him
Don't really know Barney Frank
Nothing
Who?
Don't know him
Who is Harry Reid
Don't know him
Who is he?
I think she is a fair lady. (Ziegler: Is she a republican or Democrat?) I don't know.
I don't know him
I don't know her
I don't know him either.

Which of those people wore clothes that their party spent $150,000 on? Which has a pregnant teenage daugher?
Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
I know that would be Palin...ahahahahahah...they made a big deal about that...but ya gotta look pretty, right? Heheheheheh...
Palin
Palin
Sarah Palin
Palin
Sarah Palin
Palin, Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Palin
Palin
Hah. Palin

Which candidate said they could see Russia from their house?
Oh, that would be Palin
That woman, Palin
Sarah Palin
Palin
Palin, Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Uh, I can't remember her name right now, uh, Palin
Palin, hahaha

Which candidate claimed to have campaigned in 57 states?
Hahahahahah, Sarah Palin, I don't know
57 States? I don't know, probably Sarah Palin
Fifty...fifty seven states? Hahahahah, I have no idea...57 states? I have no idea.
I don't know, was that Palin? Hahahahahah
57? I don't know...Sarah Palin?
57 states? Hah. That sounds like something Sarah Palin would say. Hah.
McCain
I would put that on Palin
McCain

Which candidate won their first election by getting all of their opponents kicked off the ballot?
I don't know. That sounds like something Sarah Palin would do, but...I don't know.
Sarah Palin?
Oh my God. I don't know. Who? (Ziegler: Obama.) Are you serious? Wow!
Huh. Sara Palin?
Oooohhhh. Was that McCain?
I don't know. I don't have a record of that.
Hmmmm. Uh, that probably had to be McCain.

Which candidate said that Obama would be tested in his first six months by an international crisis?
I don't know
McCain
I don't know
McCain
McCain
McCain
McCain

Which candidate had to quit a previous presidential campaign because they were found to have plagiarized a speech?
Uhh...probably McCain
Wowwwwwww! Uhhh...I don't know, but that's exciting...who? (Ziegler: Joe Biden.) Are you serious? Shut up!
Don't know that one.
Which, ah, eh, uh, I don't know.

Which candidate said that his policies would bankrupt the coal industry and make energy prices skyrocket?
Uh, I don't know.
Maybe Biden, he has a way of putting his foot in his mouth. (eh heeehehheeeheeeheee)
I heard that. I haven't really looked into that one, but it did make headlines.(Ziegler: Did you find that troubling?) Uhh...I don't have a lot of trust in the media to know where that was coming from.
McCain
McCain
McCain

Which candidate said that the government should redistribute the wealth?
I don't know
(Ziegler: So you agree that the government should redistribute the wealth?) Yeah.
Redistribute the wealth? I like it. From what I know about it...which might not even be the right thing, I like it.
To redistribute wealth? I don't know, it sounds like a good thing, but....heheheheheheheheheh

What do you think of Bill Ayers?
I don't know. I don't know who he is.
I don't too much know anything about him.
Bill Ayers? I don't know.
A washed up terrorist.
I don't know Bill Ayers.
No, I don't know him.
Yes.....but.....I....don't know the details. (Ziegler: Where do you get most of your information?) NPR...and...PBS

Where do you get most of your information?
Mostly from the news medium. TV, CNN...uhhh...Bill Maher is a good one.
I don't watch a lot of media. Yeah.
Um, I don't have a TV, so I read the New York Times, but...BBC, I guess, if I watch TV, CNN. (Ziegler: Do you watch MSNBC?) Yeah, it's pretty cool. I like...John Stewart, heheheh...(Ziegler: You get your news from Jon Stewart sometimes?) Yeah...the Colbert Report....
I think I'm not as informed as I thought I was. Umm...but I still don't think I would change my vote.

Note: If you can't tell, I thought of all of them, "Erika" had the best opportunity to see the truth someday, and she had the funniest responses. There was a tie between two I disliked the most, and who were the most pretentious snotty liberal kool-aid drinkers..."Janan" and "Adarsha". The rest of them were just dumb, ignorant Obama voters.

[Incorrigible]

Bump

[Osage Orange]

Thought that they were exit interviews after they voted...........

Maybe I am wrong.....

[LouAvul]

it would give Jaws an upset stomach.

Least they'd be dead by the time he figured it out and that's all that counts.

[rlmorel]

I could be wrong as well. I have the disc, I’ll check.

[RightFighter]

My favorite is when they call me Hitler. The other day I was in a discussion with a high school classmate on Facebook. She had posted a picture of Barack Obama with a quote attributed to him where he said something to the effect of “You can’t deny women their basic rights and call it religious freedom.”

I replied and said, “Oh, birth control pills are now a basic right? Really?” I followed it up with another comment saying, “Nobody’s talking about denying women the opportunity to purchase birth control pills. The argument is over whether their faith based employers have to pay for them. Just because you claim that there’s a war on women doesn’t make it so, the matter how much it will help Barack Obama.”

One of her friends, who I did not know, piped in at that point with “You remind me of Hitler.”

I normally don’t get into name calling. However, in this case, I felt that it would be best to fight fire with fire. So, I replied, “Mike Sager, you are a pathetic piece of dog excrement.”

He had the nerve, at that point, to reply to me that I was denigrating him because I couldn’t win the argument. LOL

From that point forward, every time that he replied to me, trying to tell me how I really was like Hitler, I replied back with his new name, “Mike Sager, pathetic piece of dog excrement, with more drivel about Hitler,” or something like that. He dropped out of the conversation after 4 or 5 replies.

The entire conversation was 85 comments in total, with questions raised about both birth control and the male female wage gap. I completely destroyed the arguments of the liberals. All my Freeper friends would have been proud.

She has now deleted the entire thread.

[daniel1212]

Gleaned from: http://peacebyjesus.witnesstoday.org/RevealingStatistics.htm

94 percent of political conservatives, and 94 percent of Americans who regularly attend religious worship services believe there is such a thing as sin, versus only 77 percent of political liberals and 80 percent among those who do not attend services. ^Ellison Research, March 11, 2008

Only 19 percent of political conservatives were likely to be unchurched versus 47 percent political liberals. (http://pewforum.org/newassets/images/reports/multiplefaiths/multiplefaiths.pdf)

59% of Americans polled said religion is very important in their lives (75% in 1952). By categories: 52% of men, 66% of women, Whites 66%, Blacks 82%, Hispanics 66%. 68% percent of self-identified conservatives, 56% of moderates, and 49 percent of liberals said religion was very important to them. - Gallup survey 1999.Copyright ©2004 The Gallup Organization; http://www.mfc.org/contents/article.asp?id=139 See also Steve Crabtree, “Black Churches: Has Their Role Changed?” Gallup Tuesday Briefing; Religion & Values, May 14, 2002

Political conservatives were almost three times as likely as political liberals to identify God as their most important relationship (33% vs. 12%, respectively). Barna, 2008 http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/13-culture/44-americans-identify-their-most-important-relationships

n 2009, 57% of Americans opposed homosexual marriage [which is contrary to the word of God, and seldom monogamous], versus 40% in favor of doing so. (75% self-identified liberals versus 19% of conservatives; and 59% of 18-29 year olds, versus 32% of those 65 years and older) May 7-10 2009 USA Today/Gallup poll; http://www.gallup.com/poll/118378/Majority-Americans-Continue-Oppose-Gay-Marriage.aspx

Beliefs reincarnation, yoga, the existence of spiritual energy in physical things and astrology are more common among Democrats and independents than Republicans, and are more widely held by liberals and moderates than conservatives, especially as concerns belief in yoga as a spiritual practice, with 39% of liberals expressing this belief (39%), in contrast to only 15% of conservatives. Conservatives and Republicans also report fewer experiences than liberals or Democrats communicating with the dead, seeing ghosts and consulting fortunetellers or psychics. (http://pewforum.org/newassets/images/reports/multiplefaiths/multiplefaiths.pdf

Some 71 percent of [those classified as] conservatives say you have an obligation to care for a seriously injured spouse or parent versus less than half (46 percent) of liberals. Peter Schweizer, “Makers and Takers,” Doubleday, June 3, 2008. http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=16895

Liberals are two times more likely to say it is okay to cheat the government out of welfare money you don’t deserve. Peter Schweizer, “Makers and Takers,” Doubleday, June 3, 2008. http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=16895

Liberals are approx. twice as likely than conservatives to have received treatment for a mental health problem at some point in their lives. Based on data from GSS 1972-2008 Cumulative Datafile http://sda.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/hsda?harcsda+gss08; http://anepigone.blogspot.com/2011/11/conservatives-are-mentally-healthier.html

Among 5 groups, American atheists and agnostics were the segment most likely to describe themselves as being politically liberal (32%) and were the group least likely to describe themselves as being conservative (4%) http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/5-barna-update/66-american-faith-is-diverse-as-shown-among-five-faith-based-segments?tmpl=component&print=1&layout=default&page=

61% of Americans have a positive image of capitalism, and of 95% of small business, versus 36% seeing socialism positively, while 33% have a negative image of capitalism, and 58% of socialism. 53% of Democrats have a positive image of socialism, compared to 17% of Republicans. 61% of liberals say their image of socialism is positive, compared to 39% of moderates and 20% of conservatives. http://www.gallup.com/poll/125645/socialism-viewed-positively-americans.aspx February 4, 2010

The population of Massachusetts ranks as the most liberal, with Boston and Cambridge being the most liberal large cities (100,000 or more), followed by California. http://www.epodunk.com/top10/liberal/index.html

Those who identify themselves as being conservative on social and political matters lower divorce rates (28%) than those liberal on social and political matters (37%). http://www.barna.org/family-kids-articles/42-new-marriage-and-divorce-statistics-released

30% of Roman Catholic priests described themselves as Liberal, 28% as Conservative, and 37% as Moderate in their Religious ideology. - Los Angeles Times (extensive) nationwide survey (2002). Arthur Jones, 2002 National Catholic Reporter. Gale Group. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1141/is_2_39/ai_94129129/pg_2

A poll of conservative and progressive religious activists showed 48 percent of conservatives activists believe the Bible to be the literal word of God, versus only 3 percent of “progressives”, otherwise known as liberals. This contrast was also seen in other issues, with 95 percent of conservatives opposing legalization of abortion, and 82 percent opposing both same-sex marriage and civil unions, while 80 percent of liberals support some form of legal abortions (54 percent in most cases), with 59 percent support same-sex marriage. The study also found that Evangelical Protestants composed 54 percent of conservatives, Roman Catholics 35 percent, and mainline Protestants 9 percent, while liberal activists were made up of 44 percent mainline Protestants, 17 percent Roman Catholics, 10 percent Evangelical Protestants, and interfaith bodies and groups (12 percent). 2009 Religious Activist Surveys conducted by the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron in partnership with Public Religion Research. http://www.christianpost.com/article/20090916/u-s-religious-activists-have-widely-divergent-views/index.html

A (disputed) study showed that 50% of American college faculty identified themselves as Democrats and only 11% as Republicans (with 33% being Independent, and 5% identifying themselves with another party). 72% described themselves as “to the left of center,” including 18% who were strongly left. Only 15% described themselves as right of center, including only 3% who were “strongly right.” North American Academic Study Survey (NAASS) of students, faculty and administrators at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada 1999. The Berkeley Electronic Press http://montages.blogspot.com/2005/04/conservatives-underrepresented-in.html http://www.bepress.com/forum/vol3/iss1/art2 http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/17963/liberal_bias_in_our_schools.html

Extensive surveys by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, conducted in 2006 and 2007 of 14,000 college freshmen and seniors at fifty colleges nationwide, indicated that college education results in little advance in knowledge of American history and institutions, which is already poor among non-college graduates, but an often significant increase in favoring liberal ideology was seen over those who were not college graduates. In addition, those with the highest degrees were the most liberal. Intercollegiate Studies Institute, ‘’The Shaping of the American Mind.’ http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/2010/major_findings_finding1.html

Analysis of Federal Election Commission data regarding the 2010 midterm elections showed that college professors and administrators donated heavily and overwhelmingly is support of Democrats over Republicans. This included 77 percent of total donations from employees of Harvard university and 86 percent of all donations from employees of University of California’s network of colleges going to Democrats, with pro abortion Sen. Barbara Boxer being the top recipient of academic donations, while no donations from Princeton went to a Republican. Analysis of Federal Election Commission conducted by the Center for Responsive Politics, reported by Capitol News Company, 9/22/10

Of 100 colleges and universities graded on their general education requirements by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), 42 institutions received a D or F for requiring two or fewer core subjects, while 25 of them received an F for requiring one or no subjects. Only 5 institutions received an A for requiring six general education subjects. Average tuition and fees at the 11 schools that require no subjects was $37,700; average tuition at the five schools that require six subjects is $5,400. Walter E. Williams , professor of economics at George Mason University. http://townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2009/08/26/what_will_they_learn http://whatwilltheylearn.com/criteria

In a 1996 poll of 1,037 reporters at 61 newspapers, 61 percent identified themselves as Democrats, 15 percent as Republicans. The respondents also identified themselves as liberals 4 times more frequently than as conservatives. American Society of Newspaper editors 1996 survey of 1,037 reporters at 61 newspapers of all sizes nationwide. http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=32928

n a 2001 Kaiser Family Foundation poll, media professionals were nearly 7 times likelier to call themselves Democrats rather than Republicans, with the ratio of self-identified liberals to conservatives being 4.2 to 1. Kaiser Family Foundation 1996 poll of 301 “media professionals,” 300 “policymakers,” and 1,206 members of the general public.

In a 2007 Pew Research Center study of journalists and news executives, the ratio was 4 liberals for each conservative. Pew Research Center’s 2007 survey of 222 journalists and news executives at national outlets.

All told, White House correspondents during the late ’80s and early ’90s voted for Democrats at 7 times the rate at which they voted for Republicans. U.S. News & World Report writer Kenneth Walsh’s 1995 study of 28 White House correspondents. 1996 Freedom Forum survey of 139 Washington bureau chiefs and congressional correspondents

On the subject of welfare and related issues, liberal experts were quoted in the news 75 percent of the time, conservatives 22 percent. On consumer issues, the liberal-conservative ratio was 63 percent to 22 percent. On environmental issues, the ratio was 79 percent to 18 percent. And regarding nuclear energy, the ratio was 77 percent to 20 percent. Robert Lichter, Stanley Rothman, and Linda Lichter, The Media Elite: America’s New Power Brokers (New York: Hastings House, 1990).

In 2011, 38% of voters believed that when most reporters write or talk about Pres. Obama, they are trying to help him pass his agenda (down from 48% a year ago). 26% feel that most reporters are politically biased, 46% think the average reporter is more liberal than they are, while 26% say they are merely interested in reporting the news in an unbiased manner. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/media/61_are_still_angry_at_the_media

Since the liberalization of immigration policy in 1965, the number of first-generation immigrants living in the United States has quadrupled, from 9.6 million in 1970 to about 38 million in 2007. “Immigration Worldwide: Policies, Practices, and Trends”. Uma A. Segal, Doreen Elliott, Nazneen S. Mayadas (2010). Oxford University Press.

[rlmorel]

You are correct. It HAS been a while since I watched it. Wow.

Just watching it again to make sure, the sheer stupidity of some of these people.

My fate is tied in to how they vote. Scary.

[GOPJ]

Republicans even know more about Democratic leaders: 75 percent of Republicans identified Nancy Pelosi as a Democrat, vs. 59 percent of Democrats. And while 73 percent of Republicans knew Franklin Roosevelt was a Democrat, only 58 percent of Democrats did.

Great post - thanks rhema.

[Osage Orange]

The problem is......I know plenty of regular nice working people...that have no clue.

The MSM is the most dangerous entity in the United States of America.

[GOPJ]

My take too... Katherine Kersten’s one brave woman to submit this to a liberal newspaper.

Among liberals, members of the press are the most closed minded... doesn’t bode well for her career.

[Larry381]

I sincerely believe the Democrat party should be outlawed, the same as if it were a particularly nasty disease that infects the brain and causes a type of political dementia.

[TXnMA]

LOL! A couple of weeks ago, I was FReeping when I was interupted by a phone call from a ditzy-sounding young thing who asked me to participate in a "short political survey", When I said, "OK", she asked,

"Do you think our nation is going in the right direction or the wrong direction?"

I replied,

"Well, since we have an illegal alien, Muslim, communist, traitorous usurper squatting in the White Hut and doing his best to destroy our Nation -- I'd say we're headed in the wrong direction."

Somewhere along about, "White Hut", I heard her gasp. And when I said, "Next question..."

She hung up on me!

For five minutes, I could harcly stop laughing! ROFLOL!!!

[SuziQ]

A March 2012 Pew report, entitled "Social Networking Sites and Politics," found that 28 percent of liberals have "blocked, unfriended or hidden someone" on social-networking sites because of their political postings...

Heh, yeah, I got blocked by a niece, I guess because I offended her with an opinion during the campaign for the Personhood Initiative in MS. I couldn't vote, because I don't live there, but I disagreed with one of the arguments she and her friends were making against it, and voiced that on her Facebook page. I think I pi$$ed off a bunch of her friends, so she apparently dumped me because I don't see her posts anymore.

I guess her friends didn't like being challenged, though they sure love getting into everyone else's faces.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks rhema.

"More poorly informed"?

[trebb]

Only a ‘surprise” to the uninformed. You can also bet that, without checking a single fact or source, the average Democrat will pooh-pooh it as a baseless attack because “that’s what us eeevull Republicans (Conservatives) do”. Looking in the mirror doesn’t work for the purposefully blind.

[aberaussie]

Trivia: sour and dour are eye rhymes, but dour actually rhymes with boor and doesn't sound like dower.

I don't think I have ever heard anyone say it right, then. Of course, I live in the South. And I am conservative.

[HiTech RedNeck]

You don’t hear “dour” used much in conversation. (”He’s so dour!” “LOL.”) Usually it turns up in literary contexts. It comes from the same roots as “durable” and “endure” and carries the same meaning, to be hard or tough, but in a bad connotation.