According to a new poll, Tea Party activists and conservatives are willing to put their money where their mouths are and stop purchasing products from companies that promote President Barack Obama’s agenda.
The results of the survey led the pollster to conclude that Tea Partiers could “realistically” lead a boycott of such companies.
The poll was commissioned by the National Center for Public Policy Research and FreedomWorks, the latter a conservative organization whose chairman, Dick Armey, is often closely associated with the Tea Party movement.
The pollsters asked 800 conservatives and Tea Party supporters about their view of Johnson & Johnson and General Electric, two large conglomerates that have spent money lobbying for the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or health care reform, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the $787 billion stimulus bill.
Next, the pollsters informed respondents of the association between the companies and Obama’s legislative agenda. As a result, the poll showed, the favorability of those companies plummeted among Tea Partiers and conservatives at large, with many saying they would likely boycott those businesses.
From Oct. 10 to 14, Republican polling firm Wilson Research Strategies, which conducted the poll, identified 801 people who described themselves as “somewhat” or “very conservative” and asked them about the companies.
Among them, GE’s image was 51 percent favorable and 25 percent unfavorable; but then, the respondents were told about GE’s support for the stimulus plan, under which they received federal dollars, and their support for a hypothetical cap and trade bill.
Their numbers flipped, with just 20 percent of the people surveyed then viewing them favorably and 50 percent unfavorably.
J&J was originally viewed even more favorably, at 69-5, but after learning that the company spent money to help lobby for Obama’s health care plan, the company’s favorability collapsed more than 50 points to 16-49.
Worse for the two companies, 60 percent of the conservatives said they would be less likely to purchase goods from a company that “actively lobbied to pass health care reform, Obama’s seven hundred and eighty seven billion dollar stimulus plan, or cap and trade,” as the pollster phrased it.
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The results of the survey led the pollster to conclude that Tea Partiers could “realistically” lead a boycott of such companies.
The poll was commissioned by the National Center for Public Policy Research and FreedomWorks, the latter a conservative organization whose chairman, Dick Armey, is often closely associated with the Tea Party movement.
The pollsters asked 800 conservatives and Tea Party supporters about their view of Johnson & Johnson and General Electric, two large conglomerates that have spent money lobbying for the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or health care reform, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the $787 billion stimulus bill.
Next, the pollsters informed respondents of the association between the companies and Obama’s legislative agenda. As a result, the poll showed, the favorability of those companies plummeted among Tea Partiers and conservatives at large, with many saying they would likely boycott those businesses.
From Oct. 10 to 14, Republican polling firm Wilson Research Strategies, which conducted the poll, identified 801 people who described themselves as “somewhat” or “very conservative” and asked them about the companies.
Among them, GE’s image was 51 percent favorable and 25 percent unfavorable; but then, the respondents were told about GE’s support for the stimulus plan, under which they received federal dollars, and their support for a hypothetical cap and trade bill.
Their numbers flipped, with just 20 percent of the people surveyed then viewing them favorably and 50 percent unfavorably.
J&J was originally viewed even more favorably, at 69-5, but after learning that the company spent money to help lobby for Obama’s health care plan, the company’s favorability collapsed more than 50 points to 16-49.
Worse for the two companies, 60 percent of the conservatives said they would be less likely to purchase goods from a company that “actively lobbied to pass health care reform, Obama’s seven hundred and eighty seven billion dollar stimulus plan, or cap and trade,” as the pollster phrased it.
More from CNS News
5 comments:
It will be hilarious when those same companies start laying off workers, many of whom will probably be tea party members.
This is the same tactics the Democrats have been using for years it's pay back time!
Exposing them as the Communists wasn't enough.
As someone with experience in creating political polling questions, I have to say that the question that was quoted here was "loaded." It was definately worded to elicit a particular response, and the pollsters got the response they were looking for. I think that if the question had been worded more neutrally, for example, by leaving out the specific amount of money in the stimulus, the results may not have been as dramatic.
This is by no means a defense of Obama, but simply an explaination of the loaded questioning techniques used by some polling organizations, both liberal and conservative.
3:53 is off issue.issue is earmarks and fiscal and ethical responsibilities to the american people...great technique with mis-directed results.
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