221
votes
Why is communism considered as evil (like fascism and nazism) in the United States?
Fundamental to communist ideology is the common ownership of the means of production and abolishment of social classes and social hierarchy. In practice, that means no (or very few) private property ...
- 12.1k
187
votes
Why is communism considered as evil (like fascism and nazism) in the United States?
TL;DR: because communism did, in fact, kill people. Between 23 million (low estimate) and 100 million (high estimate) of them killed by regimes that collectively self-branded themselves as led by "...
- 93.3k
115
votes
Why haven't the British protested Brexit as ardently as the Hong Kong protesters?
Brexit is more popular among Britons than what is happening in Hong Kong is among Hong Kong residents
There was a vote for Brexit where a majority of voters voted for Brexit, but there was absolutely ...
- 15.8k
103
votes
Accepted
Why did Trump's "rally 'round the flag" effect evaporate so quickly?
First, the "Rally 'round the Flag" effect is misnamed. These aren't really moments of patriotism. These are moments in which people wake up and realize they are facing a collective threat, something ...
- 76.4k
85
votes
Accepted
Why is there such a partisan divide on confidence in science in the US?
A good explanation might be confirmation bias. Confirmation bias in a nutshell is the psychological phenomenon that people generally tend to trust information which supports their views and distrusts ...
- 78.9k
83
votes
Accepted
Is there an explanation for why ~20% of Americans think the US's response to COVID-19 has been better than South Korea's?
The key assumption you have made is assuming people in the US act sensibly, and that they would base their answer in the poll on facts. This assumption might not be accurate. A recent (Jan 2019) study ...
- 1,125
82
votes
Why do some people support Russia's war in Ukraine?
TLDR: For real and imagined reasons, the West is less popular than it thinks it is and this is war is framed, by Russia, as them standing up to the West.
Russia has presented plenty of arguments for ...
- 92.8k
77
votes
Why do UK politicians seemingly ignore opinion polls on Brexit?
It was discussed in the discussion on one of the online petitions. The standard Tory line against it is:
17.4 million people voted to leave. After that, 499 Members of Parliament voted in favour of ...
- 22.2k
70
votes
Why is communism considered as evil (like fascism and nazism) in the United States?
Why is communism considered as evil (like fascism and nazism) in western countries?
Simple answer is them vs us. This was previously nationality, but cold-war era saw this them vs us line drawn more ...
- 2,303
68
votes
Accepted
Why do some (North Americans) consider Europe socialist?
The Word Has Become Political Shorthand
The Pew Research Center examined how people in the United States were using the word and what they meant by it. Regardless of the term's academic definition, ...
- 19.4k
66
votes
Why are Americans' perceptions about their economy so incorrect?
Paul Krugman has covered this topic a lot recently in his New York Times column (e.g., New Perspectives on the Feel-Bad Economy, Nov 2023, and numerous others). The answer seems to be a mix of things,...
- 2,313
65
votes
Why is communism considered as evil (like fascism and nazism) in the United States?
Communism has committed atrocities far greater than the Holocaust.
Holodomor: up to 12 million dead
Khmer Rouge: up to 3 million dead
The Great Leap Forward: up to 55 million dead
Tanzania ...
- 6,092
56
votes
Why do some people support Russia's war in Ukraine?
The source you refer to only considers the national positions of the countries, not citizens opinions. Most of the citizens of the global south have their own problems to deal with, and do not have ...
- 6,537
54
votes
Accepted
What do British people think about female-only carriages on trains?
A YouGov poll of 2948 people conducted in August 2017 gives:
It has been suggested that trains should have women-only carriages. Which of the following comes closest to your view?
Good idea - women ...
- 3,664
54
votes
Why is communism considered as evil (like fascism and nazism) in the United States?
Why is communism considered as evil (like fascism and nazism) in the
United States?
Short Answer
The background necessary to accurately answer your question is complex in both history and culture, ...
- 5,542
53
votes
Accepted
Why has Donald Trump's popularity remained so stable over a rather long period of time?
It's actually surprisingly hard to find surveys that also ask the "why" question of the supporters. I did find one on-line survey by "SurveyMonkey", although I'm not sure of its ...
53
votes
Accepted
Why do so many Russians approve of Joseph Stalin's regime?
I'm not sure there's anything more than expert opinion as an answer:
Levada sociologist Karina Pipiya told BBC Russian: "There is growing nostalgia for the Soviet period and Stalin as a leader. ...
53
votes
Accepted
What was the point of Trump trying to get dirt on Hunter Biden's dealings with Ukraine?
Trump arguably won the 2016 election because of James Comey's last-minute, pre-election assertion that he might reopen the investigation into Hillary Clinton. That had dramatic fallout in social media,...
- 76.4k
53
votes
What does the average American citizen think about the raid on Mar-a-Lago?
In situations in which a variable exhibits drastically different behavior in different groups, asking about the average may not be meaningful. After all, if we were to take averages, we would find ...
- 18.1k
50
votes
What made Queen Elizabeth so popular?
She actively engaged in what is universally considered as good (charity).
She avoided controversial things. You say “as monarch she had almost zero decision power and never spoke on politically ...
- 3,375
49
votes
Do voice assistants such as Alexa commonly have political opinions and do people believe them unthinkingly?
I wonder how we should react to a non-sentient robot claiming to hold a particular set of beliefs and principles.
You should bear in mind that it is actually expressing the views of the controllers ...
- 5,845
47
votes
Why has Donald Trump's popularity remained so stable over a rather long period of time?
How does Donald Trump manage to remain so popular over a rather long period of time?
He just doesn't. Other than a few days at the very beginning of his mandate, he has never been popular. He's never ...
- 1,824
47
votes
What factors changed the Ukrainians' belief in the possibility of a full-scale invasion between Dec 2021 and Feb 2022?
As James K points out, comparing two surveys with two different methodologies needs to come with heavy caveats at the best of times, but when one poll asks respondents to recall their state of mind a ...
CDJB♦
- 109k
45
votes
Why do protests happen in the light of their apparent futility?
it seems to me that protests are usually an ineffective tool to deal
with the situation.
Sometimes protests work. They are also often the most effective tool available, even if they don't result in ...
- 88.3k
43
votes
Accepted
How many Americans support leveling Gaza?
I suppose that you are correct “that pollsters may have qualms about asking this”, since thus far, I have not been able to find any polls that ask a question like “Should Israel drop an atomic bomb on ...
- 4,885
42
votes
Accepted
Why are states easily won by Bernie Sanders in 2016 not supporting him in 2020?
The simple answer is there was more competition.
In 2016, it was mostly Sanders vs Clinton for the Democratic Primary. She had several potential scandals brewing (her private email server, questions ...
- 53.1k
42
votes
Why did Trump's "rally 'round the flag" effect evaporate so quickly?
According to a study published by the Pew Research Center last week, the majority of voters are pessimistic about the future with regards to Covid-19: "73% of U.S. adults say that in thinking about ...
CDJB♦
- 109k
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