School teachers report from the front lines about what they are seeing in Trump's America.

Courtesy of NPR: 

Previous surveys we've reported on, including one from the Southern Poverty Law Center, also found increases in school bullying related to overheated political rhetoric. 

The UCLA survey, unlike those, relies on a nationally representative sample: 1,535 teachers at schools whose demographics reflect those of U.S. schools as a whole, rather than pulling from self-selecting volunteers. Also, the survey was conducted after President Trump took office. Along with the survey, researchers at the UCLA Institute for Democracy, Education and Access conducted 35 follow-up interviews by phone. 

Here are some of the key findings: 

• 79 percent of teachers reported that students have expressed concerns for their well-being or the well-being of their families because of what is in the news. Most commonly mentioned was immigration, but the list also included the much-publicized travel ban, restrictions on LGBTQ rights, threats to the Affordable Care Act and threats to the environment. 
• 51 percent of teachers reported more students experiencing "high levels of stress and anxiety." 
• 44 percent of teachers reported that students' concerns were affecting learning. In interviews, they spoke about students who seemed stressed, distracted and who were contributing less to class discussion for fear of drawing attention to themselves. 
• 41 percent of teachers reported that students were more likely than in previous years to introduce unfounded claims in class discussions, such as from Facebook or talk radio. 
• 27 percent of teachers reported an increase in students making derogatory remarks about other groups during class discussions. This included sexist as well as racist and anti-Muslim comments. 
• 20 percent of teachers reported heightened polarization on campus and incivility in their classrooms. 

These last two figures were higher for teachers at predominantly white schools, says John Rogers, lead author of the report and a professor at UCLA's graduate school of education. He noted that teachers in eight states used the word "emboldened" to describe some white students' increasingly racist and offensive behavior. 

The report is not comprehensive, and there's no easy way to compare its results with those during any previous administration. But it speaks to an ongoing national discussion about civil discourse and civic engagement inside and outside the classroom.

When I say in the headline that teachers are on the "front line" I mean that literally as they are often the ones who first recognize shifts in how young people respond to the mood of a country, or how attitudes are evolving concerning racism, sexism, or tolerance of "the other."

During the Obama Administration it seemed that the country was moving rapidly toward more progressive attitudes, hope for the future, and acceptance of others.

But now with Trump in the White House it appears that we returned to intolerance and divisiveness almost overnight.

Nobel Prize winners name Donald Trump as one of the top threats in the world.

Courtesy of Common Dreams:  

Along with nuclear war and climate change, President Donald Trump has made the list of what Nobel Laureates consider to be major risks to the world population. 

In a survey of 50 Nobel Prize winners in the sciences, medicine, and economics, more than a third of the respondents said damage to the environment brought about by issues like over-population and climate change, was the biggest threat to mankind. Twenty-three percent said nuclear war was their top concern, while six percent said theirs was "the ignorance of political leaders"—with two of the winners naming Trump specifically. 

Peter Agre, winner of the chemistry Prize in 2003, told the Times Higher Education, which conducted the poll and released the results Thursday, that "Trump could play a villain in a Batman movie—everything he does is wicked or selfish." He also called the president "extraordinarily uninformed." 

The survey also found serious concerns among the respondents about the brand of populism pushed by Trump as well as right-wing European leaders. Forty percent of the Nobel winners called Trump-style populism, characterized by his distrust of climate science and the media, and political polarization "a grave threat to scientific progress, while 30 percent say that they are a serious threat."

The only part of this which surprises me is that not more of these geniuses placed Trump as the major risk to the world population.

As for Trump playing a Batman character, he already did.

Or are all of you unfamiliar with Two-Face? 

More than half of Canadians think that religion does more harm than good.

Courtesy of Global News:  

Just over half of Canadian respondents say they believe religion does more harm than good in the world, according to a new survey. 

The Ipsos poll, conducted for Global News, showed that 51 per cent of respondents agreed with the above statement.

“There’s a lot that’s happening in the world right now in the name of religion,” Sean Simpson, vice-president of Ipsos Affairs, said. “Of course, ISIL being the primary example that’s using religion to justify what they’re doing.” 

Simpson explained that the number is rising; when Ipsos asked the same question in 2011, 44 per cent of respondents agreed.

First they elect a handsome, super liberal Prime Minister, and now this? 

Is Canada trying to seduce me into moving there?

Because you know what, it might be working.

New survey finds that United States is no longer one of the top five best countries in the world.

Courtesy of US News:  

Switzerland is viewed as the No. 1 overall country, according to a survey of more than 21,000 people from 36 countries in all regions of the world. People regard the European country highly for its citizenship, being open for business, an environment that encourages entrepreneurship, the quality of life it provides its citizens and for its cultural influence. 

Switzerland is one of 20 new countries evaluated this year, as the total number of nations assessed in the survey grew to 80. 

Canada finished No. 2 overall and the United Kingdom No. 3, as both did last year. Germany fell from its top spot in 2016 to No. 4 this year, while Japan moved up two positions to No. 5 overall.

The United States fell as many positions as Germany in the rankings, dropping to No. 7 overall, behind Sweden. The U.S. is still seen as the world's most powerful country, but the gap between it and second-place Russia, which American intelligence officials say interfered with the presidential election in an effort to help Trump, has narrowed to a near-negligible difference in that area.

"Narrowed to a near-negligible difference." Oh that's just dandy.

Other findings from the survey were the following:  

• Nearly 75 percent of respondents said they had lost respect for the U.S. in some degree because of the toxic tone of the 2016 presidential campaign. 
• Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, would have won the global popular election, but Trump would have won in Russia (83 percent of survey respondents viewed him favorably) and China (54 percent). He also polled fairly well in Israel (46 percent), Nigeria (42 percent) and Turkey (37 percent).

Is this what Trump means by MAGA?

Because I really don't see it.

Most comprehensive study in over 20 years finds that the number of guns has gone up yet the percentage of gun owners has gone down.

Courtesy of the Guardian:  

Americans own an estimated 265m guns, more than one gun for every American adult, according to the most definitive portrait of US gun ownership in two decades. But the new survey estimates that 133m of these guns are concentrated in the hands of just 3% of American adults – a group of super-owners who have amassed an average of 17 guns each. 

The unpublished Harvard/Northeastern survey result summary, obtained exclusively by the Guardian and the Trace, estimates that America’s gun stock has increased by 70m guns since 1994. At the same time, the percentage of Americans who own guns decreased slightly from 25% to 22%.

The survey also found that more women are buying guns while the percentage of male gun buyers was decreasing slightly.  The women were more likely to own a gun for self defense, and not to feed their ego, and typically only owned one firearm.

However this desire for protection is fed by fear and misinformation:

“The desire to own a gun for protection – there’s a disconnect between that and the decreasing rates of lethal violence in this country. It isn’t a response to actuarial reality,” said Matthew Miller, a Northeastern University and Harvard School of Public Health professor and one of the authors of the study. 

The data suggests that American gun ownership is driven by an “increasing fearfulness”, said Dr Deborah Azrael, a Harvard School of Public Health firearms researcher and the lead author of the study. 

“If we hope to reduce firearm suicide, if we hope to reduce the other potential dangers of guns, my gut is, we have to speak to that fear,” she said.

Gee I wonder who is feeding into that fear?

Wayne LaPierre, NRA Vice President and fear monger.

 Yeah, I actually already knew.

The study also found that the number of guns stolen annually was 400,000.

So the next time some ammosexual jerkwad gets in your face and says that "If guns are criminalized only criminals will have guns" tell him that "The criminals only get those guns from careless legal gun owners like you, asshole!"

Because that is actually the facts.

And most of those stolen guns probably come from these folks:  

While there are an estimated 55 million American gun owners, most own an average of just three firearms, and nearly half own just one or two, according to the survey results. 

Then there are America’s gun super-owners – an estimated 7.7 million Americans who own between eight and 140 guns.

That's right the majority of the guns are in the hands of a small group of sexually inadequate cowards who are hiding under their beds for fear the government is coming to take their metal penis extenders away.

The full report will not be released until the fall of 2017, as the paper is currently being peer reviewed. (That is something that factual scientific documents are subjected to which is in direct opposition to the half baked conspiracy theories and made up "facts" that the Right Wing media is constantly pulling out of their ass.)

However the Duke University researcher who did the 1994 study called this " “a very high-quality survey”.

As you can imagine the NRA has refused to comment on this survey, and other pro-gun organizations have expressed some skepticism at its findings.

Facts, they can be so uncooperative sometimes.

P.S. For those of you experiencing a little deja vu after reading this that might be because it has a lot in common with a CBS News poll released in July of this year. 

There are now as many Atheists in Norway as believers.

Courtesy of The Local:  

The number of Norwegian atheists now equals those who believe in God for the first time since a key survey began, in a sign of increasing secularization in the once god-fearing nation. 

In this year’s survey by Ipsos MMI, 38 percent of those asked about their faith said they were atheists, the exact same share of the sample who said that they were believers. Only 24 percent said they were uncertain. 

“It reflects the secularization that has taken place over time, and that is already apparent in lower baptism numbers,” Silje Kvamme Bjorndal, a research fellow at the Norwegian School of Theology, told the Vårt Land newspaper. 

The poll, which was first carried out in 1985 has recorded a steady decline in belief over the last decade. 

This may mark the first time ever that I wish I lived in Norway. 

Sounds like heaven to me. Pardon the pun.

Yet here we are in America where the religious right is working hard to oppress women, gays, and the non-religious, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

7.5 million more Americans have broken free from the shackles of religion since 2012.

Courtesy of Religion News Service:  

A new survey shows in stark relief that what some are calling the Great Decline of religion in America continues: Since 2012, the U.S. has about 7.5 million more Americans who are no longer active in religion. 

Last week, the 2014 General Social Survey was released. The GSS is the gold standard for sociological surveys. Funded by the National Science Foundation, this multimillion-dollar study gives us the most accurate data on American society — including religion. 

When asked their religious preference, nearly 1 in 4 Americans now says “none.” Up until the 1990s, the percentage who were in this group known as “nones” hovered in the single digits. The 2014 GSS showed that nones are 23 percent of the population, up 3 points from 2012. 

How large is this group? There are nearly as many Americans who claim no religion as there are Catholics (24 percent). If this growth continues, in a few years the largest “religion” in the U.S. may be no religion at all.

First off let's remember that being nonreligious is not a religious category, anymore than being bald is a hair color.

The survey goes on to say that over a third of Americans never attend church, and 17% never pray, which is up from a previous 14%.

All in all this is incredibly good news in my opinion, and indicates an important move away from organized religion. and primitive thinking.

Survey finds that Americans overwhelmingly want to get away from fossil fuels and move toward green energy sources.

Courtesy of Forbes:  

Americans “overwhelmingly” prefer solar and wind energy to coal, oil, and nuclear energy, according to a Harvard political scientist who has conducted a comprehensive survey of attitudes toward energy and climate for the last 12 years. 

Americans see natural gas as a bridge fuel that falls somewhere in between, offering some benefits over traditional fuels but more “harms” than solar and wind, said Harvard Government Professor Stephen Ansolabehere during a December appearance at the University of Chicago. 

“Americans want to move away from coal, oil and nuclear power and toward wind and solar,” said Ansolabehere, introduced as “the leading energy political scientist in the world” to climate scientists, physicists, economists and public-policy experts at The Energy Policy Institute of Chicago (EPIC). Ansolabehere described solar and wind energy as “hugely popular, overwhelmingly popular.” 

So popular, in fact, that they easily cross the partisan divide that polarizes Americans on so many other issues. About 80 percent of Americans said they want solar and wind energy to “increase a lot,” and another 10 percent or so want it to increase somewhat. 

“In order to get 90 percent, that means a lot of Republicans like solar and wind—more than coal. Everybody likes those sources. This is non-partisan.”

And yet virtually every Republican politician is voting against renewable energy and arguing for more exploration and continued reliance on coal. 

Gee it's almost like somebody is buying them off or something.

New survey finds that half of British people think that religion does more harm than good.

Courtesy of The Independent:  

More than half of people in the UK believe religion does more harm than good, while less than a quarter believe faith is a force for good, a new survey has revealed. 

And the viewpoint even applies to those with strong faiths – one fifth (20 per cent) of Britons who describe themselves as being “very religious” said religion was harmful to society. 

The findings from the study for The Huffington Post, which was carried out by Survation, challenge widely held beliefs about religion and its place in modern British society. 

They show that only eight per cent of Britons describe themselves as very religious, while more than 60 per cent said they are not religious at all. 

And the majority (55 per cent) believe that being religious does not necessarily make you a better person. One in eight Britons said atheists tend to be more moral, compared to just six per cent who said atheists are less moral. 

Of the 2,004 people surveyed, 56 per cent described themselves as Christian, 2.5 per cent were Muslim, one per cent were Jewish and the remainder were of another faith or none.

Well gee, maybe Lawrence Krauss was right, and maybe the end of religion really IS only a generation or two away.

Even one year of extra schooling makes it 10% less likely that a person will be religious or superstitious.

Courtesy of The Economist:

 Just one extra year of schooling makes someone 10% less likely to attend a church, mosque or temple, pray alone or describe himself as religious, concludes a paper* published on October 6th that looks at the relationship between religiosity and the length of time spent in school. Its uses changes in the compulsory school-leaving age in 11 European countries between 1960 and 1985 to tease out the impact of time spent in school on belief and practice among respondents to the European Social Survey, a long-running research project. 

By comparing people of similar backgrounds who were among the first to stay on longer, the authors could be reasonably certain that the extra schooling actually caused religiosity to fall, rather than merely being correlated with the decline. During those extra years mathematics and science classes typically become more rigorous, points out Naci Mocan, one of the authors—and increased exposure to analytical thinking may weaken the tendency to believe.

Really helps to explain why Conservatives and the Religious Right are always attacking public education don't you think?

New survey shows that majority of Americans blame Bush for situation in Iraq, and that he was wrong to take us there in the first place.

Courtesy of TPM:

Republicans have hammered President Obama in recent weeks for the unraveling security situation in Iraq, arguing that he should have left some American troops behind in the troubled country. But a poll released Monday found that Americans widely disagree with the GOP. 

The latest national survey from Quinnipiac University showed that 58 percent of American voters believe Obama's decision to withdraw troops in 2011 was the right thing to do. 

Conversely, 61 percent said that George W. Bush's decision to invade in 2003 was the wrong thing to do. Fifty-one percent of voters blame Bush for the current calamity in Iraq.

I find that only 51% of Americans think the current Iraq situation is Bush's fault to be troubling since he is the reason we were there in the first place and also brokered the deal for our withdraw. 

It is clearly 100% his fault and anybody who does not know that is probably too stupid to understand the questions in this survey.

And further evidence of that fact is that 39% thought that Bush did a better job at conducting foreign policy than Obama who got 35%.

On the other hand 51% of the respondents said that we should NOT send troops into Iraq to defeat Islamic militants, as opposed to 39% who think we should.

There were also some gun control questions in this poll whihc showed that 50% of the respondents thought that there should be stricter gun control laws, to 47% opposed. And a full 92% who believe that ALL gun owners should be subjected to a background check.

New survey shows that Evangelicals are the most likely to cheat on their spouse.

Courtesy of New York Daily News:

A new survey from Ashley Madison, a website for married people looking for something on the side, found that the religious affiliations of cheaters lines up with the breakdown of religion in the U.S., meaning the majority of them identify as Christian. 

In fact, a quarter of the survey participants self-identify as evangelical, making it the most common faith among the unfaithful. 

Here is the actual breakdown:

Evangelical 25.1% 

Catholic 22.75% 

Protestant 22.7% 

Agnostic 2% 

Mormon 1.6% 

Muslim 1.5% 

Jewish 1.4% 

Atheist 1.4% 

Jehovah's Witness .5% 

Hindu .3% 

Now this IS America so it is perfectly reasonable that the majority of respondents would be of some Christian denomination or another, you know of course unless being a Christian meant you were the moral superior of those who were NOT Christians, but who believes that?

 I mean it's not like I'm doing the Snoopy dance around my desk right now in celebration of the fact that Atheists are more trustworthy marriage partner than just about any other group except Jehovah's Witnesses and Hindus, or anything.

That would be juvenile.

Though perfectly justified.

New survey shows that if Hillary does not run that the next potential female candidate with the highest name recognition is Sarah Palin. Seriously?

Courtesy of YouGov:  

Even though 2/3 of Americans in the latest Economist/YouGov Poll think the country is ready for a woman president, there is no guarantee that a woman will even be on the ballot in 2016. Although her candidacy is greatly anticipated – or greatly dreaded -- by many, Hillary Clinton has not yet made a decision yet on whether or not to run. 

Several media outlets (for example the Wall Street Journal and CBS News) have published stories about those who have doubts about her running. Others have speculated about what could happen if she chose not to run; the Washington Post, for example, predicted "chaos" on the Democratic field. But with so many Americans thinking the country is ready for a woman president, what other women do Americans think could or should run for the highest office in the land? 

For the past several weeks, the Economist/YouGov Poll has asked Americans their opinions of other women who could potentially run for president. Last week, when people were asked what women other than Hillary Clinton Americans would want to run for president in either 2016 or 2020, 49 different names were mentioned. However, there were only 8 women named by at least 1% of survey takers, and nearly 2/3 of those in the survey couldn't name a single other woman beyond Clinton.

Okay first off it is important to note that a full 2/3 of the participants in this survey could not even name another female candidate except Hillary, which goes to show that she is without a doubt the best known potential presidential candidate in the country.

Second just because the majority of the country is ready for a female President does not mean they will cast their vote for any old uterus that decides to run. I think we learned that definitely in 2008.

And speaking of 2008, it is clear that the only reason that so many people know about Palin is due to the McCain campaign, and of course the constant mention on late night talk shows, for comedic reasons. That does not, in any way, translate into support.

Besides in this scenario Palin is much like General William Sherman in that if nominated she would not run, and if elected....well let's face it she would NEVER be elected.

Don't get me wrong she would love to run, but she simply cannot do so without all kinds of secrets coming out that would embarrass her to the point that she would have to run back to Wasilla with her vestigial tail between her knees. (Okay she might NOT have a vestigial tail but then again I think she might.)

Good news, 3 in 4 Americans realize that the sun does not revolve around the earth. Yeah, there really is no way to put a positive spin on this.

For this I spent nine years in prison?

Courtesy of NPR:  

A quarter of Americans surveyed could not correctly answer that the Earth revolves around the sun and not the other way around, according to a report out Friday from the National Science Foundation. 

The survey of 2,200 people in the United States was conducted by the NSF in 2012 and released on Friday at an annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Chicago. 

To the question "Does the Earth go around the Sun, or does the Sun go around the Earth," 26 percent of those surveyed answered incorrectly. 

In the same survey, just 39 percent answered correctly (true) that "The universe began with a huge explosion" and only 48 percent said "Human beings, as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals."

This, THIS, is what the conservatives have done to education in America. 

These are not even hard questions.

Bill Nye is right, this country is going down the crapper, and the solution is more of this:

In our "Duh Ralph" survey of the day we learn that the ONLY group to oppose America's growing diversity are white conservatives.

Courtesy of Think Progress:  

It is an undeniable fact that the United States is becoming increasingly diverse, rapidly heading toward the day when there will no longer be any clear racial or ethnic majority in the U.S. population. You might think America, with its long history of racial panics, might be freaking out. 

But it turns out, according to a massive new study of public attitudes about rising diversity by CAP and PolicyLink, that’s not so. Americans are reacting amazingly well to growing diversity — with the curious exception of white conservatives. 

The CAP/PolicyLink poll, conducted with the Rockefeller Foundation and Latino Decisions, finds most Americans are welcoming the nation’s future with open arms and, perhaps more importantly, minds open to new policies tailored for a more diverse country. 

With the exception of white conservatives, Americans across the board support “new steps to reduce racial and ethnic inequality in America through investments in areas like education, job training, and infrastructure improvement.” More than 7 in 10 Americans—71 percent—support this new equity agenda compared to the just 27 percent who are opposed. This includes 63 percent support among all whites, with 68 percent support among white college graduates and 61 percent among white non-college graduates. 

White conservatives were the only demographic group to report majority opposition to new investments to reduce racial and ethnic inequality — 51 percent total oppose these initiatives. By contrast, 54 percent of all Americans say such investments would help the economy overall, compared to the 10 percent who think they would hurt the economy. Whites are 49 percent and 11 percent, respectively, on the same question. Finally, 61 percent of Americans say they would be willing to invest “significantly more public funds to help close [the] gap in college graduation rates” between black and Latino students and white students, compared to the 36 percent who say they are not willing to make such investments. Again, while whites are lower than minorities in their support, they still endorse this proposition by a margin of 53 percent to 46 percent.

Teabaggers in the wild.

Of course the problem with the white conservative point of view is that their average age is right around fifty, and they are dying off at a dramatic rate. They are being replaced by their more open minded, more progressive, and less racist offspring who are rejecting their political points of view completely.

Which means that the America's days of being run by conservatives are numbered even if the Republicans party were NOT currently in the middle of an all out civil war.

P.S. I think this is a good place to place a link conserning the North Carolina county precinct GOP chair who was asked to resign after he made some very honest, and unfortunate (For him), remarks to Aasif Mandvi on the Daily Show.

You know maybe I will have to move to Canada.

Ad campaign in Canada.

Courtesy of Global News:

While the largest faith in Canada remains Christianity, nearly one-quarter of Canada’s population has no religious affiliation, according to the 2011 National Household Survey released Wednesday. 

That’s roughly 7.8 million people who don’t identify with a religion, up from 16.5 per cent of the population a decade earlier.

Free health care (Correction, universal health care.), no constant warring with other nations, and now a dramatic increase in freethinkers.

Oh Canada, I think you're trying to seduce me.

Imagine there's no heaven 

It's easy if you try 

No hell below us 

Above us only sky 

 Imagine all the people 

Living for today... 

Imagine there's no countries 

It isn't hard to do 

Nothing to kill or die for 

And no religion too 

Imagine all the people 

Living life in peace...

Someday John. someday.

Internal survey sent to parents and scout masters find that many identify the gay ban as negatively affecting their customer loyalty to the Boy Scouts.

Courtesy of Mother Jones:

In the fall of 2012, months before the Boy Scouts of America announced it would consider overturning its decades-old ban on gay Scouts and scout leaders, the group sent a survey to Boy Scouts, parents, and scout leaders. The survey did not include a question about the ban, but it did ask respondents to explain what impacted their decision to recommend the Boy Scouts to their friends and families. Despite the open-ended nature of the question, around 5,500 (about eight percent) of the 68,441 respondents volunteered that the gay ban negatively affected their "customer loyalty" to the Boy Scouts. Only a tiny fraction of the respondents—a few hundred—expressed explicit support for the gay ban. Now a fight over how to interpret those results is brewing between the Boy Scouts and Scouts for Equality, an independent organization pushing for an end to the gay ban. 

"The biggest takeaway from the survey is that there is a ton of energy in the scouting community for changing the policy," says Zach Wahls, an Eagle Scout raised by two lesbian mothers, and founder of Scouts for Equality. 

But Deron Smith, director of public relations for the Boy Scouts of America, tells Mother Jones that since the survey didn't include any specific questions about the ban, and only nine percent of respondents brought it up in an open-ended question about why they would or wouldn't recommend the Boy Scouts, "it is insufficient to accurately predict the beliefs of our membership as a whole." 

This Deron Smith guy may only be able to argue this point for a few more weeks because there is another, much more focused survey coming soon, and I predict that it will substantiate a,d expand on the findings of the earlier survey.
 
What Scouts, leaders, and parents think about the ban should be clearer soon. A 2013 spring survey specifically addressing the ban was sent to about 1.1 million scouts and their families earlier this month. It includes questions like, "David, a Boy Scout, believes that homosexuality is wrong... Steve, an openly gay youth, applies to be a member. Is it acceptable or unacceptable for this troop to deny Steve membership in their troop?" The results of that survey are expected​ April 4, just over a month before 1,400 members of the group's national council will vote on whether to end the ban.

This. much like the ban on gay marriage in this country, is essentially a done deal. The Boy Scouts have been doing their best to fight the inevitable, but I believe that once this new survey is returned that the organization will have no choice but to openly accept EVERYBODY regardless of who and how they love.

You know the thing is that the Boy Scouts already have a number of gay scouts and scout leaders, all this will do is allow them to no longer have to hide that fact from their peers.

Gee the freedom to be who you are without fear of discrimination or penalty. Does it GET any more American than that?

CNN plays Pink's "Stupid Girls" while introducing segment on Sarah Palin's visit to Chick-Fil-A, and in other news the chicken sandwich shop is losing customers by the bucket load.

 Courtesy of Mediaite:

CNN anchor Randi Kaye teased the segment by saying, “Sarah Palin is apparently hungry for chicken and controversy.” Palin stopped at Chick-fil-A to show her support in the midst of national attention on its founder’s anti-gay stance and the chain’s donations to anti-gay groups. 

Well it certainly is going to be difficult for CNN to devolve in "Fox-lite" with THAT kind of attitude.

In what I am sure is a completely unrelated coincidence, Chick-Fil-A has taken a significant hit among consumers recently.

This according to You Gov:

Chick-Fil-A's perception with fast food eaters nationwide has taken a significant hit in most regions of the US, including the South where most of its restaurants are located, since president and COO Dan Cathy's perceived anti-gay remarks on July 16th. 

Chick-Fil-A was one of the top five best perceived QSR restaurant chains in the U.S. over the first half of this year, according to YouGov BrandIndex data. 

Chick-Fil-A and the Top National QSR Sector were measured with YouGov BrandIndex's Index score, the company's flagship brand health measurement. The Index score is an average of key scores measuring quality, impression, value, reputation, satisfaction and willingness to recommend. All measurements were filtered for adults 18+ who have eaten fast food in the past month. The Top National QSR sector average includes such brands as Pizza Hut, Arby's, Papa John's, Domino's, Taco Bell, KFC, McDonald's, Burger King, and Long John Silver's. 

On July 16th, the day the Baptist Press published its Dan Cathy interview, Chick-Fil-A's Index score was 65, a very substantial 19 points above the Top National QSR Sector average score that day of 46. 

Four days later, Chick-Fil-A had fallen to 47 score, three points below the Top National QSR Sector average score of 50. This past Wednesday, Chick-Fil-A had a 39 score compared to the Top National QSR Sector average score of 43. 

YouGov BrandIndex respondents in the South took Chick-Fil-A from an Index score of 80 on July 16th to its current 44. Chick-Fil-A's biggest drop took place in the Northeast, where it went from 76 to 35, a difference of 41 points.

Yeah, but like I said I am sure it is nothing more than a coincidence. Unless you don't believe in that kind of thing. Right Sarah?

Right?

Earlier some snotty troll wanted to know how our little boycotting chicken sandwiches idea was going. I gotta tell you, it looks pretty good to me.