To the descendants of Aladdin who live in the fictitious country of Agrabah: a poll finds 41 percent of Republican primary voters favor bombing your country. But there is a bright side: 36 percent of Democrats poll oppose bombing it. However, the poll didn’t ask voters whether they think magic carpets should be targeted and destroyed as a threatening weapon that could be used by terrorists.
The Public Policy Polling poll”
To put some of these findings about real modern day issues and Trump voters in context, 41% of his voters think Japanese internment was a good thing, to 37% who don’t. And 41% of his supporters would favor bombing Agrabah to only 9% who are opposed to doing that. Agrabah is the country from Aladdin. Overall 30% of Republican primary voters say they support bombing it to 13% who are opposed. We asked the same question of Democrats, and 36% of them opposed bombing Agrabah to 19% in support
And so a poll shows how useful education, social media, and the world wide web have been in enhancing the knowledge of 21st century Americans. Left unanswered in this poll, is what voters think about the possibility that there are sleeper cells being trained in Neverland and whether Howdy Doody’s seemingly abandoned 1950s town of Doodyville as seen on TV (which was really much wilder in real life) today poses a threat due to rumors that it’s a hub for manufacturing fertilizer bombs. Suggestion to PPP polling: note these possible threats in your next poll and see if voters favor pre-emptive strikes.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump is accused of using barely disguised dog-whistles in his campaign to appeal to those who resent minority and other groups. Since some of his voters think Aladdin’s country poses a threat, perhaps this song from Aladdin could be adapted as Trump’s campaign song he can sing to voters who want him to ban Muslims from entering into the United States and for him to deport millions of Mexicans and their families. From a televised number from the Broadway musical version of the film Aladdin:
SPECIAL NOTE: The Broadway music cast album is one of the best show score CDs ever, which goes far beyond the original movie’s score in pizzazz and musical art. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:
CORRECTION: The original version of this story mistakenly attributed this poll to the Pew Research Center. It has been corrected. We regret the error.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.