Here is another poll showing more albertans support the registry than oppose it....
The opposition is very vocal and often intimidates supporters, particularly in smaller communities so the public discourse is not generally reflective of public opinion. The gender split is significant (as we noted, if you add up the gun owners who support the registry with the people who live with gun owners and support the registry, they pretty much cancel out the gun owners who oppose the registry and the people living with gun owners who oppose the registry).
The polls also show that the debate is not between people who would allow guns to be owned with fewer restrictions and those who support the registry. Rather recent polls have shown that most Canadians would support much more stringent controls, half would ban firearms outright.
The results of polls also depend on how you ask the questions and the sequencing...We made an effort to outline the arguments in the questions.
Do let me know if you want anything else. If you surf the net you will find the results of specific polls diverge dramatically but generally speaking there are two gun control supporters for every opponent, however you define the issue.
Wendy
So there you have it.
15 comments:
First off look at who commissioned the poll. Secondly, what was the question asked? If I were to ask you a question in this manner, what would your response be:
Seeing that handguns are used in most violent crimes, would you be in favor of registering them?
What do you think most people would say.
"First off look at who commissioned the poll. Secondly, what was the question asked?"
Remember that statement when some dodgy push polling comes from the Manning Institute next time PK. Or does this not count for your side?
If I were to ask you a question in this manner, what would your response be:
Seeing that handguns are used in most violent crimes, would you be in favor of registering them?
I'd say it's been the law to register them since 1934.
What do you think most people would say.
Well, conduct a poll and let us know, troll.
Gotta admit I have mixed feelings when I see poll results that support my views. And I realize that in the current reality supporters of gun control and progressive governments will need to use polls to fight their battles.
but here are the important words from above:
"The results of polls also depend on how you ask the questions and the sequencing..."
Most polling has morphed into "push polling" where the desired results are obtained for the sponsor by manipulation the questions and context.
Polling has become one more tool to manufacture consent.
And even the simple question: If an election were held today who would you vote for?
becomes an insidious attack on REPRESENTATIVE democracy. We do not have direct-democracy or daily voting for a very good reason.
If we were to ban polling completely then we would eventually see some real leadership emerging from our politicians rather than this mad scramble to create the optics of being at the head of the parade.
Polling has become one more tool to manufacture consent.
NorthernPov: Didn't you just scold me recently over at Far and Wide for making an observation of what polling is really designed to do?
On the contrary Ti-Guy
(only on a blog site will self-depreciating wit get mistaken for admonishment - I, myself was the "other nut" the comment referred to. )
Steve V doesn't like my opinions on polling - my remark was to show him I have some company
oh and we are not alone:
" The trivialization of politics – the avoidance of tough issues, the preoccupation with polls and often brutal tactics, the pandering – is self-perpetuating."
http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/04/23/this-is-why-we-cant-have-nice-things-2/
I, myself was the "other nut" the comment referred to.
A thousand pardons. I don't comment there very often; it's a fine blog, but I got tired of all the poll-smoking.
Paul Kennedy, Eli Alboim and a few others have complained about polling as well. Alboim remarked that in the past when he worked for the CBC (no doubt, aided by an absence of the Internet, but also by a keener understanding of what polls really do), the CBC would, during the writ period, save up all the polls and report on them once a week instead of daily, which in aggregate provided a more accurate picture, but also didn't promote the tendency to focus on the horse-race exclusively, let alone help generate all the pointless speculation that drives me absolutely nuts: "Obviously, the Prime Minister's appearance at the Assport, Manitoba bakesale yesterday accounts for that slight uptick among stay-at-home moms..."
I would like to see the entire e-mail from Ms. Cukier, complete with headings, please.
"I would like to see the entire e-mail from Ms. Cukier, complete with headings, please."
And I'd like to beat Usain Bolt in the 100 meters and have a date with Megan Fox. Doesn't mean either is going to happen. Life is full of disappointments. Best that you get used to that reality.
@ nos200:
And just what, exactly, does your post contribute to the conversation - besides trying to look like the clever boy?
If BigCityLib is going to post the contents of a private email on a public blog, then he's obliged to provide the bona fides behind it, or pull it down.
Now, go away, you're bothering the adutls.
Aki:
I emailed Wendy Cukier yesterday and asked her for a response to an earlier post (see link), and asked if I could post her response, and she said she would respond "officially" later. This morning, this email was in my inbox. So, while I didn't email her again and ask again if I could repost, I am assuming its her "official" response.
What would make you possibly think
I would fake her email?
I have no reason to expect that you did. Wendy has made some pretty damning statements, which seem quite unlike her. It would be good to have genuine evidence that she did send it, which is why I asked.
I'm not a criminal and I refuse to be treated like one.
That is the point that is missed. The Fire Arms Act made outlaws of us. Convicted without trial nor ever committing a crime. Forced to carry a licence and register everything I own that shoots. To stay out of prison.
So quite frankly I don't give a damn about a pole. I want my freedom back.
I'll believe this poll when I see how they selected those polled and what questions exactly were asked. Have a look at the poll on CTV's website right now...96% in favour of killing the registry last time I checked, with about 25,000 votes in.
The pro-gun side is a grassroots civilian movement full of people who are tired of being trampled. We have no funding and no government support. The gun control crowd gets George Soros, IANSA and our own government dishing them heaps of money to campaign against firearms. You think the Canadian gun organizations could afford a poll like this? Most people don't even know that Canadian gun organizations EXIST.
Money talks, the anti-gun types have it, and that's why you'll always get an anti-gun bias in Canada's media.
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