As Americans begin the busy summer driving season, a new poll reveals that most are confused about who they should hate and why. While last summer's 'must hate' favorites, including war-critics Cindy Sheehan and Michael Moore, are now regarded as hated has-beens, few new 'hateables' have captured the public's attention.
Poll: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad easy to hate but hard to pronounce.
By Deanna Swift
WASHINGTON, DC—Americans are already weeks into the busy summer driving
season yet most still lack a clear sense of who they should hate and
why. The current murky forecast stands in marked contrast to the hazy
hate-filled days of last summer, in which most Americans agreed to hate
anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, whom they blamed for dominating news
coverage, causing traffic jams in much of the southwest and driving up
the price of gasoline.
According to the results of a recent poll, most Americans have all but
forgotten Ms. Sheehan. The Polltronics poll, based on 2,130 telephone
interviews conducted earlier this month, found that while 63% of
Americans report feeling "mildly irritated" at the mention of Ms.
Sheehan's name, only 9.2% say that they are prepared to hate her "most
of all" between now and Labor Day.
Sinking like a stone
Also falling short in the blame game these days is one-time
controversial filmmaker, Michael Moore, hated by fully 39% of Americans
last year. By contrast, only 7% of respondents indicated that Mr. Moore
would continue to top their "most hated" list this summer. While the
angry auteur may be off the hook for the summer blockbuster season, 56%
of Americans said that they were prepared to resume hating Mr. Moore
when his film "Sicko," a thinly-veiled attack on the American health
care system, widely viewed as the best in the world, debuts later this
year.
No one left to hate
The anxiety that many Americans feel about not knowing who to hate has
only worsened in recent days with the news of the death of Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi, who'd been widely regarded as a replacement topic for Ms.
Sheehan during talk radio summer sweeps month. Thirty-eight percent of
those surveyed said they'd planned on hating Mr. Zarqawi "more than
anyone else" during the months of June, July and August, but were no
longer sure to whom the top spot should belong.
Anxious Americans did get some relief from their worries this week with
the announcement that Iraqi militants have appointed a successor to Mr.
Zarqawi. The new leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq is said to be Sheikh Abu
Hamza al-Muhajer, which means "the immigrant." Sixty-one percent of respondents said that they would be more likely to
hate an immigrant than a native-born American.
Also rans
While there is no clear front runner among those likely to make the
summer's "most-hated" list, several early favorites have lost steam in
recent weeks. Among them: Hillary Clinton, pedophile priests, teacher
unions and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Forty-two percent of
those surveyed said that they would be more likely to hate Mr.
Ahmadinejad "most of all" if his name were easier to pronounce. Also
dropping from the top spot: gays, who turned in a disappointing
performance during last week's debate over amending the Constitution to
ban gay marriage.
How this poll was conducted
Samples for Polltronics polls are random digit samples of telephone
numbers selected using the "probability proportionate to size" method,
which means numbers from across the country are selected in proportion
to the number of voters in each state. Individuals who did not answer
their phones were assumed to be watching one of the following cable
news shows: "The Big Story" with John Gibson, "Special Report" with
Brit Hume, "The O'Reilly Factor," "Hannity and Colmes" or "On the
Record" with Greta Van Susteren.
Have you decided who to hate this summer? Talk back to [email protected].
I love this website!
I don't know who or what to hate this summer, either. And it's the peak-hating season. I'm thinking of just hating plaid. Not just the shirts or those hideous couches from the '70s, mind you. Just hating plaid itself. Good Lord, what a disaster. Plaid is now officially the Cause of Every Bad Thing.
Posted by: Daniel Thomas MacInnes | April 08, 2008 at 11:33 PM
Nope, I'm pretty set on hating President Bush this season. And next season.
Posted by: Unknown | June 15, 2006 at 10:53 AM
Some suggestions:
1. Focus on people who have served in combat in the military. Remember, each veteran running for office is a slap in the face of our Lord and Savior, George W. Bush, and thus automatically worthy of us good Republicans hatred.
2. Look for someone using their brains rather than their gut to decide who to vote for. Make fun of them and taut them cruelly. Remember, these "smart people" are the same ones you used to give wedgies in gym class. Now they are your boss. Time to give them another wedgie, right?!
3. Find a web site that proclaims that it values that un-American "logic" and "reason" stuff. Accuse the proprietors of being un-American, and probably a gay-marrying flag-burning liberal who hates our troops. Oh, "deranged moonbat" is a good one. They toss that "logic" and "reason" stuff at you, call them a "deranged moonbat". That will show them!
That should give you a start on finding new people to hate this summer. Enjoy!
- Badtux the Republican Penguin
Posted by: BadTux | June 14, 2006 at 11:42 PM
The field is littered with the mangled bodies of those who earned our hatred. If there's one failure of our current politico-religio-corporato-militaro-espionagio-plutocratocracy, it's that they haven't generated enough recognizable scapegoats in the last few months. Millions of stupid people with bad teeth and an Invisible Invincible Imaginary Friend are in need of a target.
You're right on about the confusion. I blame the First Felon for this lapse. He's wasting time doing whatever he's screwing up now instead of creating wedge issues and boogeymen.
Posted by: Nemo | June 14, 2006 at 02:31 PM
Would hairstyle and fashion choice count when determining candidates to hate this season?
Posted by: Treva | June 14, 2006 at 02:40 AM