Reply #55: Gallup Poll ...

[RoyGBiv]

... is where I get my numbers.

In my experience, the only people who seriously use some line like "X percentage of statistics are made up" don't genuinely understand statistical analysis. The numbers don't lie. The people who interpret them lie, and it is a lie to state, as has been stated all over this forum for *months*, even before he was inaugurated, that Obama's support among liberals, young people, etc. has "plummeted" or some variation of that word. It is also the height of intellectual bankruptcy to discount statistics in the same breath one uses their own, provincial experiences to try to counter them.

And I'll note something else. The *same* people who are running around claiming Obama's ~80% approval rate among self-proclaimed liberals is a "made up" statistic are also using wildly fluctuating poll numbers in the MA Senate race as an indication that Obama is a failure. These people don't truly believe statistic are made up. They don't actually care about nor understand statistics. What they do care about is finding some excuse to complain on a Internet forum, make up cute names for people they perceive to be their ideological enemies, and justify not doing anything but proclaiming at every made up opportunity "all is lost!"

Yes, the honeymoon is over, which is what always happens with Presidents. The generally uninterested go back to being generally uninterested; the ideologues go back to doing whatever it is they do; and people who think they're Cassandra come out of the woodwork to cry on everyone's shoulder and get angry when others don't cry with them.

Keep your hug. I'm fine. I've been phone-banking for the last two days and just thought I'd take a break to see what other faux outrage and arisen on DU since Saturday.