by Wyatt P. Trott
NEW YORK - As Election Day draws near, undecided voters say they need to hear more empty rhetoric and generic platitudes from President Obama and Governor Romney before deciding on either candidate. The Trott Polling Firm conducted a focus group of fifty undecided voters during Tuesday night's debate, and nearly all of them said they want to hear more vacuous statements about the greatness of America and the exceptional nature of its people before they can cast their vote.
"As a middle-class person, it's important to me that the candidates talk about strengthening the middle class in the broadest terms possible, again and again," said Randy Jarvis, 31, a telemarketer from Roanoke, Virginia. "I heard a lot of that tonight, but I'm still gonna need more."
by Wyatt P. Trott
With the Democratic nomination for president uncontested and the Republican race all but over, a majority of primary voters are going to the polls simply because they are legally allowed to take time off work to do so, according to the results of our latest Trott/STN/Train & Hobby Digest poll. Out of 1200 likely voters surveyed, 21 percent claimed leaving work to go vote was "one of the main reasons" they are choosing to vote in either major party's choice-deficient beauty pageant, while 70 percent certified it is their only reason for voting. Even though voting in a primary from this point on is an exercise in box-checking, taking the long way to the polling place and maybe even stopping for an ice cream is, for many, a welcome diversion from the drudgery of work.
"They gotta let you go vote, right? Like, that's a thing. And, you know, I'm probably gonna need some time to figure out who to vote for, if it's gonna be Bush or that other guy," said Tyler Mandrel, 19, a drive-thru operator at Hardee's, who plans on voting in Indiana's upcoming primary. "And if my boss is like, 'Dude, why'd you take so long?' I'll be like, 'I couldn't decide.' That's democracy, bitches!"
Among the likely primary voters surveyed, 27 percent say they will vote for President Obama, 22 percent back Governor Romney, and 36 percent said they will just take a nap in their car when they say they're leaving work to vote.
by Wyatt P. Trott
With Super Tuesday fast approaching, Fmr. Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) is hoping to capitalize on his recent wins in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri. While Mitt Romney has vast resources and the backing of the Republican establishment, Santorum has overwhelming support from Catholics, social conservatives, and most of all, voters living in the 1950s. According to the most recent Trott poll, a whopping 83% of all voters living between 1950 and 1959 support Santorum's positions on contraception and birth control, while an even greater majority of Postwar voters agree with Santorum's positions on gay rights.
by Wyatt P. Trott
Though the debt ceiling is the at the heart of a furious debate in Washington right now, surveys conducted by the Trott Polling Firm suggest the average voter has only the vaguest sense of what any of hoopla actually means for them, or for the national and global economies. The debt ceiling, currently a $14 trillion line of credit that is about to be surpassed, is generally perceived as being a blank check written by Congress to the federal government for unchecked spending.
The Trott Polling Firm conducted telephone surveys with 1,003 registered voters from across the country between July 2 and July 5. There is a margin of error of +/- 5%.
Trott pollsters could only find popular support for raising the debt ceiling when the question was phrased thusly:
Final Analysis: The debt ceiling standoff is the most important issue of the day voters know next to nothing about, though most are against raising it, except in cases where not doing so would lead to unwanted sex acts with a creature of the night.
Wyatt P. Trott is a veteran political pollster and the head of the Trott Polling Firm.
by Wyatt P. Trott
It's no secret that seniors turn out to vote in big numbers. Political candidates of all stripes work hard to court the 65 and older vote, and often times that means convincing seniors that their opponents will bring about the end of Western civilization if elected. As evinced by the recent special election in New York's 26th congressional district, the future of Medicare is shaping up to be a potent issue for the 2012 race, and the seniors who rely on the popular program remain distrustful of any plans to amend it.
The Trott Polling Firm conducted phone interviews with 1,002 registered voters aged 65 and older nationwide. Our pollsters asked the seniors about plans to change Medicare - some real, some imagined. The responses were almost uniformly negative:
Polling the same group of seniors, our pollsters gauged which issues gave them cause for concern:
Final Analysis: Seniors like Medicare as it stands and are highly resistent to any plans to expand it, dismantle it, or transform it into a retreat for Asian homosexuals. Presidential candidates courting the senior vote would be wise to support Medicare in its current form, and instead focus on the pervasiveness of Spanish in American culture and the problems with young people these days.
Wyatt P. Trott is a veteran political pollster and the head of the Trott Polling Firm.
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