Half of U.S. Catholics say Pope should go
Let me say for the record this poll and article is TOTAL CRAP.
"The poll of 227 U.S. Catholics was taken between Friday and Sunday. Fifty percent say John Paul should resign for health reasons, and 49 percent call for him to remain in office until he dies. In a similar survey in spring 2002, 36 percent said the pope should step down."
227? That's half my graduating class from Mount Vernon High School. There's probably 227 baggage screeners working at Dulles Airport today. Perhaps they called 227 Catholics that darken the doorway of a parish on Christmas and Easter.
How can this even appear in the news? Here's the full USA Today story. Bleah.
That's a horrible article. File it under "manufactured news."
"John Paul's approval rating as leader of the Roman Catholic Church has fallen dramatically since 1999." I notice they didn't ask how satisfied the Pope is with the laity.
The Pope "is out of touch with the modern world." Then he's doing his job -- and the man to whom he answers is a lot more concerned about that than he is about public approval.
P.S. Our graduating class at M.V. was less than 400 because of drop-outs.
A post to The Corner on NRO you might want to peep:
http://www.nationalreview.com/thecorner/03_10_12_corner-archive.asp#017946
227? Anyone who knows anything about statistics knows that a sample that small is hardly going to provide valid data. Even questions on things like dairy subsidies conducted by news organizations here in tiny (population-wise) Maine go with at least 500 to get a taste of state opinions.