Big Bird Leads Romney and Obama in Latest Poll

According to a poll published today by Public Policy Polling (PPP), a North Carolina-based Democratic public opinion firm, Sesame Street's Big Bird is more popular among Virginia voters than either President Barack Obama or GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

The tenth question in the 16-question survey asks: "Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Big Bird?" The answers were "Favorable 56%," "Unfavorable 10%," and "Not Sure 34%"

The same question was asked about Mitt Romney, with these answers: "Favorable 52%," "Unfavorable 44%," and "Not sure 4%."

A similar but not identical question was asked about President Obama.

"Do you approve or disapprove of President Barack Obama’s job performance?," with Virginia voters answering: "Approve 50%," "Disapprove 48%," and "Not sure 2%."

Although many voters are uncertain about their opinion regarding Big Bird, the numbers plainly show that he polls four points ahead of Mitt Romney in terms of favorability, and arguably six points ahead of President Obama.

The same poll shows measurable support for two third-party candidates competing for President in Virginia. Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party candidate, has 4 percent, while former Virginia Congressman Virgil Goode, the Constitution Party candidate, has 1 percent. Green Party candidate Jill Stein registers with less than 1 percent.

In Virginia, it appears that, if the election were held today and his name were on the ballot, Big Bird would win the presidential vote in a landslide.

Be sure to visit my CafePress store for gifts and novelty items!
Read my blog on Kindle!
Follow my tweets on Twitter! 
See my articles on Examiner.com! 

Pollster Scott Rasmussen Addresses RightOnline Conference: Video

Scott Rasmussen

Three previous posts this week featured videos of presentations at the 2012 RightOnline conference in Las Vegas, which took place on June 15 and 16 at the Venetian Hotel.

The first post was about former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and current Nevada Third District Congressman Joe Heck.

The second one included speeches by two highly-rated talk-radio hosts, Lars Larson and Rusty Humphries.

The third had speeches by authors S.E. Cupp and Jonah Goldberg, as well as a panel discussion with the two of them plus Larson.

This entry in the series features a dinner address by Scott Rasmussen, founder and president of the Rasmussen Reports public opinion polling firm (and also co-founder of ESPN, but that's just a historical tidbit).

A few hours before his speech, I had an opportunity to interview Rasmussen about the polling business.  Here's an excerpt:

Rasmussen has also noted a change in attitudes over the past twenty years since he began doing public opinion surveys, when issues like gay marriage were not even being discussed.

Beginning with a caveat that he did not “want to overstate this in a political sense,” he pointed out that “the biggest change is that, as a younger generation comes along,” there are more apparent “libertarianish attitudes.”

What this means, Rasmussen explained, is that “people believe they have the right to make decisions for their own lives and they’re very comfortable with that. They get pretty offended when somebody tries to tell them they can’t do something.”

That attitude, he said, “would apply to something like same-sex marriage or to a whole range of other cultural and social issues coming up.”

Rasmussen's post-dinner speech covered a wide range of issues. It's best to let it speak for itself:

Scott Rasmussen is the author, most recently, of The People's Money: How Voters Will Balance the Budget and Eliminate the Federal Debt. His other books include In Search of Self-Governance, A Better Deal : Social Security Choice, and (with Douglas Schoen) Mad As Hell: How the Tea Party Movement Is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two-Party System.

Be sure to visit my CafePress store for gifts and novelty items!
Read my blog on Kindle!
Follow my tweets on Twitter! 

See my articles on Examiner.com!