Join the new world

This past survey represented the 6th questionnaire created in a little over a month. I had some concern about the frequency and whether or not I would hit survey-fatigue but with 68 participants this time it appears I need not worry.

68 also meant two more random draws for $1,000 and the lucky winners are... Wilhelm Gunter and Leo Balzac. Congratulations, you will be receiving your prizes shortly.

This brought me to my next milestone which is that the Freeholder Press distributed $22,000 in donations. The Sponsors Fund is now empty. I believe the project can continue without new contributions but I also believe it provided a fun added incentive to participate. If you feel like you can afford to sponsor this project, I will not turn you down.

**UPDATE: Due to some extremely generous people, the Fund is once more overflowing. At present levels I could probably run another 20 surveys. So expect more to come. 🙂 **

The Data.

The activity pattern of those answering the questions continues to be stable. It seems that as the project manages to attract new participants, they are part of the active silent majority. A good thing for accuracy and for relevance.



The party membership distribution is a little more problematic. The first thing I notice is the drop once more in the participation of Norsefire affiliated members. Whenever there is a drop here it makes it more difficult to analyze the data as we know their absence biases the results for some questions.



We see a growing proportion of EPIC members taking part which is expected considering the current state of affairs with regards to political membership in Canada. What is surprising however is the doubling of the No Party group. Either Canadians are disengaging themselves from their former homes in search of a real alternative or the survey is tapping into a new demographic.

Citizen Approval.

As we rush towards the next Country President election, let's take a slight pause to evaluate the job our President Kronos Q has been doing. Almost halfway through his term he was enjoying the support of 66% of Canadians. How has that changed?



51.5% now approve of him which is a drop of 14.6%. The first thing I must say is that there is no data available to compare. Do all presidents suffer a drop in approval at the end of their terms? How are approval ratings affected by announcements on whether or not someone will seek another term? What can be said is that Kronos Q made controversial decisions (or at least one controversial decision) and that it had an impact. I think that any individual who needs to make difficult choices and ends with the support of more than half the electorate can say he did fine.



And here we come to that stated vexing question. President Kronos Q first announced his intentions of not interfering with the will of Congress when it came to the pardon of Rolo Tahmasee. However, once the decision was made a veto was imposed. I will not go into the validity of that move, the motivations or anything else. In the interest of staying neutral in the commentary, I will let the numbers speak for themselves. And what they are saying is that we are divided on the subject. A plurality of Canadians approved the use of the veto but it, like the pardon itself, split us almost straight down the middle. Both subjects are equally divisive and therefore equally important to our path going forward.

And where does that path lead?



According to 64.7% of respondents, that path will hopefully lead to a resolution. More accurately, that number shows the desire of a majority of Canadians to actively seek a permanent solution with regards to the Nation's expert polemicist. There is citizen fatigue on this subject but there is also a growing acknowledgement of the base of support enjoyed by Rolo. Most citizens want to move on and 64.7% of them are mandating Government (Executive or Congress) to find that solution.

Plugson Revolution.

So with the new Congress this time came a proposed new way of doing things. Congressman Plugson expressed the desire to perform his duties outside the halls of our national forum. The underlying theory is that more people pay attention to the media here than what is posted openly on the forum. Information could be easier to disseminate and elected officials would directly be answerable to those that elected them as feedback could be provided immediately. It would be an exercise in a more direct democracy and an effort to simplify things.



Surprise, surprise, Canadians are of two mind on the subject. The difference between those approving of this initiative and those opposing it are not statistically significant in the context of this survey. What would have been interesting here is an additional question asking if a respondent had ever been a member of Congress to be able to cross those results with this data. It would then have been easier to identify what the electorate wanted vs. what our professional politicians think.

And our next Country President will be...

According to our poll taken just before political parties started locking in their choices, Acacia Mason was enjoying a comfortable lead. Former President Mason, who is experiencing his latest political revival, holds a 35 point lead over his closest rivals which include the incumbent and perennial candidate Rolo. There is still a large pool of undecided, 23.5% when you combine undecided with none of the above, and the Norsefire bias means the race could actually be very close.



The highlight, or lowlight as the case may be, is the minuscule 1.5% support garnered by Aeriala. Returning from the USA to shake things up, you have to think that at this level of support there has not been all that much shaking going on.

Of Canadian citizens garnering write in support, none had enough mentions that they could credibly have mounted a successful challenge to the front runners. 17 names were put forward, of these the leaders were:



A group of 6 are tied with 2.9% support (Simon Boucher-Ruest, Jacobi, Funky Hum24n, Homer J Simpson, Addy Lawrence, crisfire).

Also receiving considerations are: Wally Cleaver, Rylde, Trenton Rendell, Chucky Norris, Roger Griswald, Nosyt, Sperry and Plugson.

Bonus Charts!

Party Profiles.

Where is Kronos Q's support strongest? Who liked the veto the best? Any group more opposed to a pardon than others? Who would rather not use the national forums? How does Presidential support break down?

Once more the sample allowed me to cross some of these variables and examine how party membership affects people's opinions.

Kronos Q's base was strongest in EPIC and with the non-top 5 parties. His greatest opposition is concentrated in Norsefire.



Approval for the use of the veto was highest amongst those that stated they were not a member of any party. Although the overall numbers show a preference for how the veto was used there is very strong opposition in Norsefire, TCO and MDP.



All groups would support a path to a more permanent resolution and re-integration of Rolo. After Norsefire the support is strongest in the MDP.



The only party showing a majority whose members would oppose bypassing the national forums is TCO with 70%, almost 30 points higher than any other group. Norsefire and smaller parties lead the charge the other way.



Acacia Mason leads in support for each group with the exception of Norsefire who overwhelmingly (but not unanimously) support Rolo. Kronos Q strongest support may reside in unaffiliated citizens but still not enough to eat into Acacia's momentum.



With endorsements coming in, the March race is Acacia's to lose. Can the Rolo factor make up the gap? Acacia's support amongst independent voters is highest and this represent the largest proportion of undecided voters as well.

The Freeholder Press prediction: Acacia Mason will win with 49%, Rolo second with 33%.