As Nick has pointed out on several occasions, Americans who value their Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms are extremely motivated to defend that right. Unlike people who favor ammunition magazine capacity limits and universal background checks without any more thought than Jessica Jane Clements [not shown] gives to the ethics of airbrushing, The People of the Gun back up their beliefs with activism. So when Hearst Connecticut Media’s four papers posted a poll on gun control, Gun Guys were all over it, from Connecticut and beyond! The results [published on ctpost.com] were nothing if not predictable . . .
More than 11,000 respondents took the poll on one of the websites of Hearst Connecticut’s four daily papers — ctpost.com, newstimes.com, stamfordadvocate.com and greenwichtime.com. Most respondents were overwhelmingly opposed to any and all efforts to tighten gun restrictions.
On the question of expanding the 1993 list of banned automatic weapons, 79 percent opposed, 20 percent approved and 1 percent were undecided. Similarly, 79 percent opposed to banning magazines that hold more than 10 rounds, while 20 percent approved and 1 percent were undecided. On the question of universal background checks, 53 percent were opposed, 41 percent approved and 6 percent were undecided.
Did this feedback from Gun Guys and Gals (and a bunch of just plain folks) please the papers’ editors and the Hearst heavies? It did not. Clearly.
Those results, however, were far different from the Quinnipiac University poll results released earlier this month. Quinnipiac found that Connecticut residents backed a majority of the post-Newtown gun control measures under consideration by a 2-to-1 margin, or more . . .
So what happened?
It turns out that only about a third of the 21,000-plus pageviews on Hearst’s gun polls came from the readership area in southwestern Connecticut.
And many of those nearly 14,000 non-local voters were, computer data showed, directed to Hearst’s newspapers by various gun advocate websites in and outside of Connecticut that urged firearms proponents to make a strong showing.
It was them damn furriners! Out-of-state gun-clinging bible thumpers! Just in case you think I’m reverse projecting here . . .
Some disappointed Hearst readers who posted comments on the poll seemed to catch on that something was amiss.
“Fairfieldjohn” wrote, “This poll has no basis in a factual representation of the people of Connecticut. The only people who click on it are the people who are really jacked up about … the boogey man coming to take their precious guns.”
Lose the bit about factual representation (absent factual representation), cut the sarcasm and substitute “perfidious politicians” for “boogey man.” Otherwise, spot on.
[Click here to take ctpost.com’s version of the survey and/or view the results.]
As if the Quinnipiac University polls are forthright and not highly politicized.
“The only people who click on it are the people who are really jacked up about … the boogey man coming to take their precious guns.”
Just the latest meme from the gun grabbers. I’ve seen it a lot lately in various discussion venues. They’ve been harping along the lines of “scary, paranoid gun persons, fearful that the gov is coming for their guns. They are not connected to reality. Clearly the gov is not taking any ones guns. These people are mentally unstable and unfit.”
Where do these talking points originate? It seems that every few days the parrots all come out shrieking the same nonsense.
“Where do these talking points originate? It seems that every few days the parrots all come out shrieking the same nonsense.”
They probably originate at the DNC, but for sure the are propagated by sites like the Daily Kos, Democratic Underground and whatever it is they call JournoList these days. Liberals can’t think for themselves, as they ave no real core beliefs to base their argument on. They just spout the meme of the day, unaware that is sometimes the complete opposite of what they spouted just 6 or seven months ago.
I love a good ARFCOM fire mission. We blow these polls up on a regular basis. It’s a beautiful thing.
This site needs a Poll Alert section to bring about TTAG fire support missions.
+100
C’mon now – the paper was trying to poll CT residents for their opinions. If, as they say, 2/3 of the response came from outside the state, then the results are hardly a valid representation of CT residents. I’d have a different feeling if the results were not what the paper wanted, but that represented the opinions of actual CT residents. In that case, shame on them for ignoring what their own people are telling them
I’m not suggesting that the other poll mentioned was much more fair, but the simple fact is that CT is not a gun rights state nor has it been one in a long time. In the end, CT can pass whatever laws that the majority wants them to pass subject to the protections of the Second Amendment. Unfortunately, there are a lot more people who don’t like guns in CT than do, so it will be a sadder day for CT gun owners when the legislature gets finished.
Sure CT is not exactly pro-gun, but are you sure it is not the same way for some other hot button issue. You are telling me that these polls are only being skewed now, or they choose to report it only because it does not support the papers agenda?
Gun owners will be screwed. There is no doubt about it. The tyranny of the majority will prevail. Just like NY, we will end up fighting these laws in court.
If anything, the result of the polls show the politicians what they will be up against in 2014 and 2016 and if we are lucky many will loose their positions.
There is no fair, you believe how the SAFE act was voted on was fair? The anti-gun lobby does not play fair and outright spews out misinformation and lies which I witnessed first hand while they give testimoney. We have seen the politicians who do not give a crap texting and playing on facebook during testimoney because they do not care.
Do they have a legit story on purely those who voted sure but I bet this happened before but when they are pro a certain issue they keep their mouths shut. This is not something new, they only have choosen to speak up because it does not fit the anti-gun agenda.
This is unlike how the QU poll was used to say what a great job Malloy was doing in regards to recent storms but everyone failed to highlight that he had the lowest poll raiting for jobs, the economy and overall economic development. He has spent several millions on travel and security and spends more time in DC than CT but where is the outrage in the papers about that?
It is all BS, this poll is no different than any other hot button issue except the paper was not happy with the results
First off, none of those put on a website are scientific so I do not see why they all of sudden want to give them some importance. Second, all those polls are bias and when there are any hot issues be it gay marriage, abortion you see the pro-whatever flood the polls so lets not make believe these things are legit.
Quinnipiac University is given legitimacy due their prior polls, but that poll too has issues given the small sample size. We also do not know whom they called. Were the phone calls truely state wide in both republican districts as well as democratic districts. If a majority if the calls where lower fairfield county or new haven county, they will skew anti-gun. If the calls were in up state or the more rural town, you will get a different answer. Where you live plays a big part in then debate and we don’t know how those calls were distributed. We do know that Quinnipiac University is left leaning and we know that the left is NOT above lying, cheating or misrepresentation when it comes to gun control in any matter so I do not put any legitamacy on the Quinnipiac University poll at all.
When you have president and his formor election team turning the screws and twisting arms in CO and CT and sending out Biden to grease the skids in Chicago style win at all costs politics, it is hard to believe anything. It is hard not to believe that Malloy and Hickenlooper have not been promissed a nice DNC or federal gig should they vote the way Obama wants them too should they then be ousted.
No, no there is nothing fair and the only truth is the fact that the democrates want nothing but total civilian disarmament.
What is lost in the noise is the third stool in this debate, this month the UN will tell us how they will help the president to ban guns and our lap dogs will most surely comply
Not that it matters what the people think. If the people were 100% in favor of gun band, they’d still be wrong.
We have a Constitution. That Constitution says “shall not be infringed”. If the people want to infringe, then they have to amend that Constitution. We are a nation of laws, not men.
The same thing happened last month with Long Island’s Newsday. First, they did a web poll. We local gun owners killed in that poll.
http://www.newsday.com/what-do-you-think-about-cuomo-s-gun-control-bill-1.4451699
Then, they published a local “scientific” survey by Siena College.
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/survey-results-long-islanders-and-guns-1.4436742
Web polls are not scientific, but from what I was able to find on the Siena methodology, it was at least somewhat bogus. There were tons of polls conducted nationally immediately after the Newtown shootings, when emotions certainly came into play. I have not heard any follow-up polls since.
I call Bravo Sierra. Bravo Foxtrotting Sierra.
Thanks for posting. We need to hit polls like this hard whenever and wherever we see them. I will post the link on PAFOA.
Governance by Poll Results is the new way for politicians to justify their “mandates”. A very dangerous and unfair business because there are zero controls. See them crying when it bites them in the ASS?. Dead giveaway of the original intentions.
Newspaper polls like this are part of an agenda and are perfidious in the worst way. The best thing we can do is “blow them up”, as was done here, to show them for the snake oil they are.
Don’t keep us in suspense — how did Bloomberg vote? And how much?
The 90% number in favor of gun control didn’t come from phone numbers with only a Connecticut area code. There’s no reason the respondents to this poll hsave to live in Connecticut.
But does it matter? We’re talking about an individual, personal, unalienable right. “Shall not be infringed” means Cogress can make no laws and it doesn’t matter what the majority mob thinks.
Comments are closed.