One More Reason Why Hoeven Would Beat Conrad

• June 1, 2005

ND NEWS
Neither one of my parents is all that involved with politics, yet they both keep up with the major news headlines of the day. For this reason I often like to quiz them (both are self-described independents) on the hot political issues going down from time to time. It is uncanny how often their opinions run parallel to the national opinion polls. I swear CNN/USA Today pollsters could save countless dollars and hours if they just hired my parents as consultants and said screw all this polling of 1,001 people.
Over the Memorial Day weekend I bounced a hypothetical question off my mom. I asked her who she would vote for if Gov. John Hoeven were to challenge Kent Conrad for a North Dakota senate seat. Here’s the transcript…
Me: So Mom who will you vote for if Hoeven decides to run against Conrad in ’06?
Mom: Ummmmm, I suppose I’d have to vote for John Hoeven.
Me: Really? Why so?
Mom: He’s much better looking than Kent Conrad. Yeah definitely.
Me: (Laughing and shaking my head) Okay.
Mom: (After conferring with my aunts on John Hoeven and Kent Conrad’s beauty.) Yeah he’d definitely get our vote.

I guess we all have our own reasons why we vote the way we do; national security, the economy, education, moral values, beauty. While it may seem like a silly point to make, appearance and general overall likeability can and will play a role in elections. Remember all the liberals whining after the 2000 presidential election that voters would rather have a beer with George W. Bush than Al Gore and that is why Bush won?
Kent Conrad’s overall likeability is very low. He comes off as somewhat nerdy with his look and the nasal-whine in his voice doesn’t do him any favors either. I think Hoeven’s general likeability is probably moderate/good. He keeps things very business-like and upfront, not a lot of schmoozing.
On a related note, I met Norm Coleman a couple of times campaigning in Minnesota last fall. Definitely the most likeable politician I have ever met in my life. That probably explains this.

Tags: North Dakota News

http://Array 2Hotel9

Josh, may I venture that your mother and the aunts she consulted are in their early to mid 40s. Their parents were, on the whole, born before 1940. They are a generation known as”Tweeners”. Not”Boomers” and not”Depression Babies”. I am the product of tweeners, and I look at”My” generation and want to cry. Not putting your mother down, just saying look at the demographics, then look at what”my” generation has done. Or more correctly, not done. It is my generation that has elected people on their looks and not their ability. Boomers are quilty of this too, but not to the degree that my birthmates are. Being the child of tweeners, I am a tweener. Neither boomer nor GenX, shallow, superficial, selfish. The wife and I have tried to be the exception in our generation but it is hard to hold back such a large tide. One of the first research gigs I had was studying the political trends and infulence of the generations born between 1950 and 1970. A real eye opener. You seem to be a bit on the researchy side, check it out. And don’t be lazy and read other peoples work, do the digging. It will give you an understanding of the current political topography that few other things will.
Joshua

It has something to do with making a sample statistically relevant. If I remember correctly from Stats class in undergrad, there was some figure that you used in your computations that was “n-1.” With “n” being the raw number of participants. If my hunch is correct, that would make this figure 1,000 even (1,001-1). Just a guess.
Joshua

Pretty much right on. There is an old saying derived from one of the more famous Nazi’s that says if you keep on repeating a lie that the people will eventually believe it. That is in part because people are lazy and they don’t care to look further into issues, they’d rather judge a politician on his/her looks or their likelihood to have a beer with them.

I think this is particularly hurtful for the Right since you know who controls the media and has the ability to keep on telling a lie over and over again.
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

Norm’s got himself quite the woman. No doubt about it.

Always wondered though, why do those polls seem to have 1,001 participants so often?

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One More Reason Why Hoeven Would Beat Conrad

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