There's a remarkably stupid TrollPoll out from the hardworking folks at PPP. They asked Republican voters if they supported attacking Agrabah, and 30 percent said that they did. But those flyover country rubes are so stupid! "Agrabah" is the country in Disney's Aladdin! Fortunately, the results gave the not-even-bothering-to-hide-their-snobbery media hacks something to laugh about on Twitter for a few minutes and something for John Oliver to DESTROY later on.
It's worth noting, though, that Democrats are also pretty cool with bombing a fictional country. Check it:
We asked the Agrabah question to Dem primary voters too. They oppose bombing 'it' 36/19, while GOP supports bombing 'it' 30/13
— PublicPolicyPolling (@ppppolls) December 18, 2015
A couple things of note here:
First off, 19 percent of Democrats polled are fine with bombing Agrabah. That's only 11 points below the GOP level!
Secondly, though, look at the totals. Fifty-five percent of Democrats have an opinion on bombing a fictional country (I assume the last 45 percent goes to "not sure," as it did with the GOP). Only 43 percent of Republican voters express an opinion either way.
In other words, you could very easily spin this poll as telling us that GOP voters are more open to admitting they have no idea what a question is about than Democrats. That GOP voters are not willing to state policy preferences on issues that they don't understand. That GOP voters are more open minded. Et cetera, ad nauseum.
Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly: Why would anyone be opposed to bombing the s--t out of Agrabah? I'd say we should bomb it back to the stone age, but it's already in the stone age, as best as I can tell. Even before the wicked Jafar took over that third world hellhole, it wasn't exactly paradise. It was a classic incubator of unrest and almost certainly a breeding ground for magical terrorists. It's not like a U.S. assault on the country could make the place any worse. Urchins starving in the street, a medieval system of justice that involved forced amputations of those caught stealing food, rule based on bloodlines. I ask you: What's so great about Agrabah?
Granted, with an all-powerful genie on their side, the people of Agrabah would not be pushovers. But if we can't send SEAL Team Six in to steal the stupid lamp that garbage pseudo-deity lives in, well, why even bother having special forces at all?
Anyway. PPP is lame and their gotchas are silly. But I do appreciate their bringing this vitally important issue to our attention and highlighting the fact that GOP voters are better than Democratic voters. And never forget: Bomb first and ask questions later. It's the only way to be sure.