Harper government doing good job on economy: poll
The majority of Canadians, except in Quebec, give the federal government good marks for its handling of the economy, according to the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll.
Six in 10 give the government at least a ‘C’ grade.
Fifty nine per cent gave the government good marks — nine per cent an ‘A’ or better and 50 per cent a ‘B’ or ‘C’ for “somewhat good.” Thirty-one per cent dished out a ‘D’ for “somewhat bad” and 11 per cent offered an ‘F’ for failure.
42% give the government a very poor score, and it's sort of curious that all the scores are given seperately except for the "B or C" category, which are conveniently lumped together. Weird.
Just for fun, let's us some common sense, in a fair way. We won't put C in either category, although if you want to be like the pollster, you could just as easily manipulate the C to the disapproval column. Within the 50% B and C, let's just divide it in half and say the C is 25%. Okay, that would mean you have a positive rating 34%, a negative rating of 42% and a 25% mediocre score. Wow, that doesn't look so good for the government anymore does it? If I'm spinning the numbers(COUGH), I could argue only 1/3 of Canadians gave the government "good" grades on the economy. The numbers would look strangely similar to last week's HD poll, that considers a C a C, neither good nor bad, but "middling":
Overall, respondents awarded only middling marks for the government's handling of the recession so far.
Four per cent said the government has done an excellent job, while 27 per cent rated its performance as good.
Forty-three per cent said the government has done a fair job, and 24 per cent gave it a poor rating.
In all regions east of Manitoba, the government was awarded a good or excellent rating by no more than 29 per cent.
Conversely, in all regions across the West, more than 40 per cent gave the government a good or excellent rating.
If you want to conduct a real world test, I recommend sending a resume to Ipsos Reid, and within it make sure to tell the prospective employer that you had a "good" C average all the way through high school and post-secondary (wherever that would be). Stay by the phone, because it's bound to ring...
12 comments:
With a C+ grade average, does that mean I'd be overqualified?
Take it outside, brainiac.
Winnie
You could be President of the United States.
Did you know a C grade is now considered "good"?
As you say Steve, it worked for Bush. It is all part of the Conservative message that they are the party of the "Tim Horton's" crowd. The thinking is, a C is what the folks at Tim's got, unlike those A and B students who hang out at Starbucks. Lousy elitists.
I don't know Greg, I've always thought someone that would pay that much for coffee must be lacking on the intelligence quotient.
Oh, I am not saying I agree, Jeff, I am just saying that is how the "smart guys" in the CPC bunker view the world.
Greg, excellent first comment. Steve, fabulous post!
The two C's I got in university were embarrassing to say the least. A 'C' is barely an average grade, let alone a good one. A 'B' is is an acceptable grade, I suppose.
I'd consider a B+/A- to be good grades. A and A+ is, of course, exceptional.
Getting a 'C' is doing the very minimum a course requires you to do. In the case of this poll, Canadians probably feel that Harper has done the bare minimum to help the economy out in the recession. And Greg is right, that's all Harper really needs to do to keep his base and some soft-support from the last two elections - simply keep the ship floating, putting his fingers in the holes where they spring up.
It really is just a sad, sad exercise. By what grounds would any logical person group the "C" ratings with the "B" ratings? If you are asking people for a grade rating, and they offer "C" it is practically the same as saying they have no opinion (particularly if "no opinion" was not given as a choice).
The only reason it would make sense to do so would be to "pad" the results in one fashion or another.
Utterly sloppy and clearly an exercise in bias, and bordering on insultingly dumb to their audience.
I give them a "F" for the poll, which does not mean they "almost made the mark" as they might interpret it.
I have to wonder if they only asked people who are pretty secure in their jobs.
I haven't spoken to a soul who isn't worried - from all walks of life.
I just had my roof shingled and the guy was worried because requests for quotes was really down this year. He says people who need repairs, etc., are afraid to spend and the independent guys like him (he does tiles, roofing and is a finish carpenter) are really suffering.
Hmmm, no horse race numbers.
If Canadians are so satisfied with the performance of the Conservatives on the economy they must have scored well in the horse race question.
So where are those estimates?
"The only reason it would make sense to do so would be to "pad" the results in one fashion or another."
Because, if you put the C as a neutral rating, then more see failure than success. This is a government gravy poll, and the sad part, the talking heads were picking up on it today and using it as indicative of something.
"Hmmm, no horse race numbers."
Ottlib, you will recall almost weekly horse race numbers prior to the last election. Strangely, now that the race has changed, they seem quite sporatic. Maybe it has something to do with the client ;)
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