Sometimes, all you can do is pinch the bridge of your nose and sigh with exasperation at the idiocy of some people. A recent poll conducted by Public Policy Polling found that 30 percent of polled Republican primary voters supported the bombing of Agrabah. Islamophobia at it’s finest, right? Well, not just that, but also a prominent example of Disney movie ignorance.
Agrabah is the fictional land created for Walt Disney Studios’ 1992 animated film, Aladdin. As far as I can tell, no such place actually exists. Perhaps Republican primary voters know something that I (and every map and globe ever) don’t? Or, perhaps they have the fear of Islam coursing so virulently through their veins that they would think the dim-witted Sultan was in fact a terrorist mastermind? Honestly, who can really say?
Founded in 2001 by Dean Debnam, Public Policy Polling’s mission is to “address inefficiencies in public policy surveys.” Public Policy Polling uses efficient, mathematical polling strategies, as well as Integrative Voice Response (IVR) technology, which on top of cost and time advantages, reduces “interviewer bias to zero by eliminating a live human interviewer.” This results in “the exact same questions read the exact same way” to everyone.
Needless to say, not everybody was content with the news that almost one-third of polled Republican primary voters thought bombing a fictional land from a Disney movie was a good idea.
Some demanded to know what Democratic primary voters thought on it, playing the Republican victim card in the process.
https://twitter.com/ellencarmichael/status/677871690068586497
Others used the revelation to point out that things like this are “why [the] media is no longer credible.”
@ppppolls Try asking Dems the same question. This is why media is no longer credible.
— Privileged ? Parker (@Skonialo) December 18, 2015
Much to the chagrin of butt-hurt conservative social media denizens everywhere, Public Policy Polling did ask Democratic primary voters the same questions. Go figure, right?
According to their results, when asked whether or not they support the bombing of Agrabah, only 19 percent of polled Democratic primary voters viewed the bombing of Agrabah favorably, compared to 36 percent who did not. While 19 percent is still kind of head-scratcher, it pales in comparison to the 30 percent of Republican primary voters who (presumably) thought the jock with the eating disorder who dated Candace Cameron in Full House was recruiting people to join ISIS.
Perhaps there should be a mandatory screening of Aladdin nationwide so the 57 percent of Republican primary voters who are “unsure” as to whether or not Agrabah should be bombed can make up their minds? I mean, that’s just as rational a solution to public ignorance as bombing a place that only exists in an animated movie is a rational means to combat terrorism.
In the same poll, 26 percent of Republican primary voters also responded favorably to Islam being made illegal in the United States, while 46 percent responded favorably to the implementation of a Muslim national database.
This is Islamophobia at its finest.
Featured image by Dogman15, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license.
