Sixty-two percent of TTAG’s Armed Intelligentsia think that Internet polls are worse than useless. True story! Internet “opt-in” surveys are the dictionary definition of a self-selecting sample. They have zero scientific credibility. They are inherently, profoundly misleading. And fun! “Almost a third of Americans could imagine supporting a military coup against their own government, according to a new poll,” theguardian.com reports. The result is roughly similar to the number of men who could imagine sleeping with Jessica Ashley in the next twenty-minutes. And not so favorably with the number of men with whom Jessica Ashley would sleep, ever. Again, who cares? OK, Ms. Ashley makes her living appealing to carnal desires. I mean, who cares about the coup stat? Still, check it out . . .
The YouGov survey showed 29% of Americans could imagine supporting a coup. Yet, 41% said they could not imagine supporting such an event . . .
They found that 43% of Republicans would support a military coup in certain instances, while only 20% of Democrats and 29% of independents would.
The overall numbers increased when participants were “asked whether they would hypothetically support the military stepping in to take control from a civilian government which is beginning to violate the constitution”. 43% said yes to this, and 29% said no.
Before the Campaign to Stop Gun Violence takes this poll and runs with it – suggesting that gun-clinging Republicans are all proto-insurrectionists – I’ve never met a gun rights advocate who supports a military coup. OK, maybe as the last resort in the face of a full-on, death-dealing, Constitution-shredding fascist dictatorship. And they dread that possibility with every fiber of their being.
All they really, really want is a democratically elected government that stays within the boundaries established by the U.S. Constitution. Ninety-five percent of those I surveyed said so, in fact. [h/t JoR]