February 11th, 2011
A new People_and_Places poll has been created.
Coptic Christians comprise 10% of Egypt’s population. Tensions between Egypt’s Muslims and Coptics have risen in recent years, most notably through a Christmas suicide bombing in front of a Coptic Church that killed 20. Coptic Christian leader Pope Shenouda expressed support for President Hosni Mubarak in recent weeks, fearing that his departure would cause chaotic conditions that would be even more dangerous to Coptic Christians. On the other hand, many Coptics manned the protest lines with Muslims, uniting as Egyptians against the regime, and a U.S. religious freedom expert says that Mubarak’s resignation is good news for Coptics, as it offers hope for stability in the country.
Tags: Finance, Middle_East
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January 28th, 2011
A new Politics/Elections poll has been created.
Following the fall of the government in Tunisia tension spread to Egypt culminating in demonstrations against the ruling party of President Mubarak on Jan 25th, 2011. On Jan 27th Egyptian opposition figure and Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei returned to Cairo, promising to join the demonstrators.
Tags: Elections, Middle_East
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January 20th, 2011
A new Politics/Elections poll has been created.
Should the UN be reformed to give it the authority to quickly and decisively arrest leaders (such as Mr. Gbagbo in Cote d’Ivorie, and others who commit crimes against Humanity, or who violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, of other international laws)?
Tags: Economy, Elections
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January 18th, 2011
A new Finance/Economy poll has been created.
Chinese President Hu Jintao makes a state visit to the United States this week. Many observers believe the 21st century belongs to China, which will take its place alongside America as a world superpower. Skeptics believe China’s prospects are overblown; they say the vast majority of China’s people still live in poverty, it has an aging population that the younger people will struggle to support, and a severe gender imbalance, along with environmental issues, rampant corruption, a fear of openness, and a weak military.
Tags: Economy, Health, Lifestyle
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January 18th, 2011
There is no uniform definition of superpower, but most writers’ who try to define it include a growing, technologically advanced economy, a military as powerful as any other, and a unified and thriving populace. Can China achieve each of these in the 21st century?
Minxin Pei, a China specialist at Claremont McKenna College in California and a director at the Carnegie Endowment, makes the bearish case in an article for The Diplomat. He points to a large portion of the population living in poor villages, and further predicts that “the likelihood that China’s growth will slow down significantly in the next two decades is real and even substantial.” He points primarily to China as an ageing society, due to its one child per family policy.
China’s bulls point to an economy that has surged 90-fold since 1978, recently passed Japan’s to become the second largest in the world, and was recently projected to surpass the U.S. economy by 2020.
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January 9th, 2011
A new Politics/Elections poll has been created.
The tragic shooting in Arizona of Congresswoman Giffords and others attending a community event has unleashed an outpouring of sympathy and calls for respect and reconciliation, from both sides of the political aisle, and from around the world, to an extent not seen since 9/11. Congress has delayed all action for one week, including a controversial vote to repeal the healthcare reform act. Will this tragedy lead to long-lasting civility in politics?
Tags: Elections, North_America
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January 8th, 2011
Like most people we at VoteGlobal were shocked to hear of this assination attempt. The whole reason we champion democracy is because we believe universal democracy can make the world a more peaceful place and in a well functioning democracy a myriad of competing and hotly held views can be reconciled without this type of violence. As Obama said “…this is more than a tragedy for those involved. It is a tragedy for Arizona and a tragedy for our entire country” In fact it is an attack on the democratic process itself.
In response to the tragedy we have created two new polls. The first is entitled “Will Palin suffer serious political damage from the shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords?”
In the 2010 mid-term elections Sarah Palin released a map of House Democrats “targeted” by Palin. Gabrielle Giffords appeared on the map. The map controversially used actual target markers on locations these Democrats lived and listed their names. Within a few hours of loading the poll it had received some 500 votes making it the hottest poll since our “Israel Raid on Gaza Flotilla” poll
Sarah Palin posted a statement to her Facebook page offering condolences to the Giffords and all affected.
Here is an article from the Tuscon Weekly of March 23rd, 2010 when Palin first released the target map.
The second new poll is entitled “Will the shooting in Arizona change the tone of politics in America for years to come?”
The shooting has also caused renewed interest in an older poll “Is the right to bear arms – open carried other otherwise – still applicable in the U.S. Should there be more stringent laws regulating firearms ownership and sales?”
It will also be interesting to track what effect this has on the polls “Do you support Sarah Palin as GOP nominee for Presidential candidate in 2012?” and “2012 Election, your GOP choice?”
Tags: Elections, North_America
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December 29th, 2010
APRIL 29TH 2011 Following on from Obama releasing his long form birth certificate we have again retired this poll. Obviously there are many people who still have issues but it is no longer a mainstream debate. At the point of closing this poll only 36% of our voters thought he was a citizen.
DEC 29TH 2010: We have decided to bring our Obama birther poll back to life. The poll is entitled Is Obama an American Citizen? and was one of our very first polls in late 2008 because it was a very topical issue then. The poll was popular in terms of garnering votes but it also generated more complaints than any other poll mostly because many people said this is not a real political issue but a fringe issue and taking it seriously denigrates the Office of President and democracy itself.
In the end however we decided plenty of mainstream press covered the issue and while no senior politician gave it oxygen quite a number of politicians did and a number of popular commentators. And people voted on it. So we decided it is a legitimate political issue. As an apolitical forum dedicated to promoting global democratic discourse our only concern is that issues are legitimately political regardless of whether a particular debate is in good taste or “politically correct”.
Over time interest dwindled and we closed the poll. However the issue has been reborn with some verve because of two people in the public eye.
With the Obama family spending time in Hawaii over the 2010 holiday season the new Governor of Hawaii, Neil Abercrombie, has been talking to the Press Corps and wants to put to rest the birther controversy. He was a friend of Obama’s parents and claims the birthers have “a political agenda not worthy of any good American.”
Then Andy Martin, the self-proclaimed ‘king of the birthers,’ announced he’ll run for president. Actually he will run for the Republican nomination for president on a “birther” platform.
To vote in the poll click here. When we turned it off the poll was showing 60% of our voters believing Obama is NOT a citizen.
Tags: birther, obama, politics
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December 29th, 2010
A new Politics/Elections poll has been created.
Russia accused Western powers of trying to influence the outcome of Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s fraud trial. Russia says the rest of the world should “mind its own business.”
The U.S. White House and other foreign governments said that the trial was an abuse of Russia’s legal system for improper ends that threatened Russia’s relationships with the rest of the world and international business community. The U.S. State Department has defended its right to speak out on the issue.
Tags: Elections, Europe
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November 19th, 2010
A new People_and_Places poll has been created.
Nato members are preparing to meet in Portugal for what is being billed as one of the most crucial summits in the alliance’s 61-year history. What is Nato’s role in the world?
Tags: Economy, Finance
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