Public Opinion – A Cautionary Note

Public opinion is repeatedly cited by commentators as “supporting” this or “opposing” that as if the consensus matters.

To be sure, in a democracy (used in the popular, not ancient Greek, sense) public opinion should not be ignored.

Do people support, for instance, Iran’s nuclear deal, Obamacare or money for Planned Parenthood?  The fact that public opinion is so often ignored is undoubtedly a key component of the broad electorate’s distrust of America’s politicians.

 

But it is appropriate that a person’s opinion should be worthy of respect only if it is informed and intelligent.  Do we credit the view of a person on climate change if he thinks it’s controlled by Martians?

Yes, a person can register his like or dislike of a political candidate and that certainly will be recognized in a campaign poll.  But his view of a public policy matter should be weighed differently.  Does he know what he’s talking about?  Is he informed about the subject matter? 

The truth is few respondents to polls are.  Most people don’t follow the news on TV or read newspapers.  They’d rather watch Entertainment Tonight or read People magazine.

A political philosopher can observe that a self-governing people have an obligation to be educated about current and national affairs.  Ok.  However, the practical solution is for people to select representatives to make appropriate decisions on their behalf (a republican form of government as opposed to a classical democracy).  And that is exactly what the Founders. In 1787, gave America.

Modern democracies have muddled the distinction, however.  We poll public opinion on matters of which most respondents know nothing (appropriate policy in the Middle East, for instance).  We report the results as if they should be a guide to American conduct.  Ridiculous.

An illustration on the level of public knowledge:  Is President Barack Obama a Muslim?

In 2010, two years into his presidency, nearly twenty per cent of the American populace thought him to be a follower of Mohammed.  Included in these numbers were ten percent of the Democrats and seven percent of the black population.

 

In 2015, Donald Trump is drawing support from about one-fourth of the GOP electorate - over half of his backers also believe that Obama is a Muslim.

How can people think that? 

Yes, his name would suggest that he is a foreigner (Barack Hussein Obama) with roots in the Middle East.  Evidently, for many Americans, that means that he’s a Muslim. 

But that view flies in the face of the President’s repeated proclamations of his Christian faith.  Remember Rev. Jeremiah Wright?  Obama was a regular attendee at the Christian pastor’s radical, often anti-American, sermons.

People who think that Barack Obama is Muslim haven’t done their homework.  They are ignorant and, truth be told, rather typical Americans.

NOTE:  I recognize that some on the right may infer that Obama is concealing his true religious allegiances.  As proof, they might cite his foreign policy as a thinly veiled effort to undercut the prestige, power and authority of western Christian civilization.  It’s not as if our President has developed a reputation for being truthful.  The Sensible Conservative, however, thinks his disastrous conduct on the foreign scene is far more likely attributable to his naivete and guilt-ridden liberal conscience than his being an “undercover Muslim”.