Who takes surveys anyway?
This is probably an egregious extrapolation of my attitude and experiences, but... anyone with a life, a schedule, and plural number of brain cells hangs up on or refuses survey calls (and/or you're cordless and have your phone set to block unknown calls) because we lump them into scams and spam. I have no idea who takes surveys any more. I don't even send in the ones I get in email from organizations I support because 1) they're thinly disguised excuses to get you to write another check; 2) nobody would trust a survey that was conducted by an organization that has an agenda.
We've had so many similar discussions about the reliability of Russian surveys (and elections). So glad the internet made information, insightful news and truth so freely available around the world that we can all be rational and reasonable. /s
We still have a land line. It's an Ooma account (VOIP) that only costs something like $3 a month so I keep it. The phone almost never rings and when it does it's almost always a pollster. I've taken a number of polls who found me that way. Some of them have been poorly designed and it was impossible to give an answer in line with my actual opinions.
I'm a rarity still having a land line. Most remaining land lines are businesses.
I've had a few polling calls on my cell too, but my cell phone number is tied to my partner's account (she's had a wireless account so long they give her an insane deal to stay with them so I don't think I could get a cheaper cell number on my own). When someone calls my number asking for her, it's almost always a pollster, sometimes a charity. The pollsters looking for someone specific usually won't poll me so I fall through the cracks there.
A lot of Gen Z still have accounts tied to their parents, so pollsters calling cell numbers to try and get Gen Z opinions are going to be calling in their parent's names and won't poll them. A lot of Millennials and Gen Z don't like talking on the phone, they will only text or use some other messaging app.
I also get various surveys in the mail or electronically. A lot of those are fake polls that are designed to generate certain results. They are the polling equivalent of fake news.
I think we have a pretty destabilized US right now with Biden clearly suffering from age, a weak and unpopular Vice President, and all the unprecedented litigation against Trump that is radicalizing his followers. Russia, Iran and Hamas are clearly taking advantage of the current destabilized situation in the US.
I am not a Trump fan and don't think he could win again in 2024, but could use some of that international stability we had from 2016-2020 during Trump's term. Trump's team should also be given more credit for the Abraham Accords which might still be the one thing to keep the Arab/Israeli conflict from spiraling into something much bigger.
A lot of people seem to believe Biden is senile. He has a disability called aphasia which is related to the therapy he went through to overcome his stutter. Frequently former stutterers develop aphasia. The wrong word comes out of their mouth or they stumble over words when they realize too late the wrong word is about to come out of their mouth.
I have dyslexia related aphasia so I know the phenomenon first hand (my dyslexia is mild, but I do rely on spell check a lot!)
Biden is old, but he's a very healthy 80. He has been extremely effective getting big bills through Congress with tiny majorities in both houses. People who follow how the sausage is made have been stunned at his skill in wrangling Congress. He also pulled together a weak NATO and got most marching in the same direction to help Ukraine within days of the start of the war. He's working now to try and help Israel eliminate Hamas while keeping civilian casualties down.
Some people are not going to agree with Biden's politics. I don't agree with everything he's done. But the whole "he's too old" thing is growing tiresome.
Age is just a number. Some people are completely knackered at 80, but others are still healthy and capable. The year my father turned 80 we went down to California to visit my parents and my partner was taking an interest in one of my father's pictures on the wall. He was a photographer and he had a lot of art photos from around the area where he lived. He told us he'd take us to the spot the next day. He didn't tell us it was about a mile hike up and down several hills. I'm 46 years younger than he was and I found it hard to keep up with him. My partner who has life long nerve damage from a severe allergic reaction was having even more trouble keeping up.
He lived to 100 and was completely with it mentally until 96. He fell and broke his hip and never completely came back from the surgery, which does happen with elderly surgery unfortunately. He didn't even need a hip replacement. They just put in a rod.
Biden at 80 is possibly more fit than my father was at 80.
Biden's politics is not going to fit with everyone's ideals. But we should be thankful he is president during the Ukraine war. He got on top of the situation very quickly and got things done to help Ukraine. The administration may have been overly cautious about what kind of aid has been provided and there are some valid criticisms there, but again he has been masterful as getting the money to pay for all the aid the US has given Ukraine.
Politics aside, some presidents are very effective at getting things done and some are not. Reagan and both Roosevelts were very effective at getting things done. Reagan and FDR was ideologically just about opposites, but they both accomplished quite a bit in their presidencies.
Carter and Trump again had very different political philosophies, but both were fairly ineffective as president. Neither were very effective at getting anything through Congress. Carter had a Democratic trifecta (presidency and both houses of Congress) for all 4 years of his presidency, but still wasn't able to get much done. Trump had the trifecta for the first two years of his presidency and only one bill of any note made it through that Congress.
I hope I didn't anger the moderator gods with this. Trying to stay factual and not get into partisanship, but I think the myth that Biden is senile needs to be put to rest.
