If you assert that most Americans support Rep. Joe Wilson’s shouted comments during President Barack Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress, then you lie, a new Gallup poll shows:
Americans come down strongly in opposition to South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson’s “You lie!” outburst during President Obama’s address to Congress on healthcare last Wednesday, though majorities on both sides of the issue do not seem passionate in their views. Sixty-eight percent of Americans interviewed in the Sept. 11-13 USA Today/Gallup poll say they oppose what Wilson did, while 21% say they support it.
Most notable in the poll: despite the impression you might get listening to conservative talk radio, the poll finds that most GOPers do not approve of Wilson’s action — yet another indication that the talk radio political culture may not speak for the entire Republican party. Another significant number: independent voters were not pleased.
Moreover, the poll also found that most Americans don’t share the feelings of most blogs on the right, left and center regarding Wilson’s comments, since most weblogs took strong positions one way or the other:
Those who favor and those opposing Wilson’s actions were asked if they were thrilled or outraged, respectively. Majorities on each side of the issue would not use these two words to describe their emotions, leaving 6% of Americans thrilled by the incident and 23% outraged.
This underscores the fact that there is a kind of consensus in American politics about what is proper and what is not. The bottom line: the bulk of Americans didn’t like what they saw.
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.