Lying

[ Cross-posted at the Jawa Report. ]

Man, this AP wire is a goldmine!

An AP/Ipsos poll measuring public attitudes towards lying was released. Now, I'm not a poll guy. I think polls should be taken with a grain of salt, for the most part. However, there are many (particularly on the left side of the aisle) who invest an inordinate amount of attention in polls.

So I decided to look at this one. The overall results seem to say that most people don't like to tell "big" lies (spousal cheating, taxes, etc.), but there was more variation when it came to "small" lies. Some of the results are, shall we say, are less than shocking. Check this part out:

WHO DEFENDS LYING: Those most likely to think lying is sometimes justified: people from 18-29 (57 percent) compared with about four in 10 adults 30 and over, college graduates (51 percent), those with higher household incomes (a little more than half of those making at least $50k) and unmarried women (53 percent).

-Those more likely to say it's OK to lie to avoid hurting someone's feelings: Those with college degrees (72 percent), household income greater than $50K (about 75 percent) and Democrats (82 percent).

I could be wrong (I'm not), but the bolded demos are absolute key demographics for Democrats (who are even specifically named!). Heh. Compare it to this, a graph under that one:

While 44 percent said it's OK at least sometimes to exaggerate to improve a story and 56 percent said it's never OK, married women (66 percent) and Republican women (68 percent) were more likely to say this is never OK.

Those eeeevil honest and married Republican women. If only they knew their oppression under that honesty.

Well, I am shocked at these findings.

Shocked, shocked, shocked.