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9/10: September 11th Nine Years Later

September 10, 2010 | by Marist Poll

By John Sparks

Nine years have passed since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Are New York City residents concerned about another attack? How much progress has been made in rebuilding the World Trade Center site? Political reporter Jay DeDapper spoke with the Marist Poll’s John Sparks.

Jay DeDapper

Read the full transcript below.

John Sparks
Let’s talk about Mayor Bloomberg’s predecessor just for a moment, Rudy Giuliani. Rudy was certainly at center stage following the attacks on 9/11. You and I were there at NBC covering it that day, and we’ve got the ninth anniversary of the attack coming up next week. The Marist Poll asked New Yorkers if they’re worried about another major terrorist attack in New York City. I’m no longer in New York. I don’t have any idea. You are. Any thoughts on that? Are they in fact concerned about another attack?

Jay DeDapper
I mean, I haven’t seen any polling on this, so this is more of a gut check than it is something based on any data. I don’t really hear that. I don’t hear it from anybody in conversation that I overhear, in conversations I have with people, in policymakers, in cocktail party conversations, whatever. Wherever I hear people talking or wherever I talk to people, I don’t really hear that. I think that that moment, that that fear has, as you would expect, has ebbed pretty substantially even. And, the reason I think that is that with what happened in Times Square not long ago with the truck that — the pickup truck attempted bombing, it was very, very quickly that things returned to normal. It wasn’t like after 9/11 where normal was many years later. It was within a week people were back in Times Square. People weren’t talking about it, being worried about it. People… you didn’t hear people fretting about what would happen, put together your emergency kit. Do you have your plans in case something happens? None of that was discussed as it was after 9/11, so I don’t think that New Yorkers right now are particularly concerned about that.

John Sparks
Now, what’s going on down at the site of the Towers? Where do things stand right now as far as any rebuilding?

Jay DeDapper
The rebuilding has obviously taken a very long time to get going. But the Freedom Tower, which is the — kind of the centerpiece of this in terms of the rebuilding that is most obvious and most visible … the steel is well above the ground. There’s several hundred feet above ground, and it is on track for an opening in a couple of years. They’ve signed some big leases to have tenants in there, and there has been talk among private real estate interest in buying into it, in buying some sort of a way into it from the Port Authority because … you’ve got to believe that private real estate investors are interested. They see this as a viable building. That’s the commercial side of it. There are three other towers. One of them is also going up. Two others are delayed, and there’s a long battle that’s been going on with Larry Silverstein who’s the leaseholder of the World Trade Center, and that has not been resolved. All these years later, two of the four towers, who knows if they’re ever going to be built. The actual site, though remember, most of the actual site is going to be turned over to the memorial. And if you go there now, you can see not just the outlines of the reflecting pools that are going to be built where the two towers stood, you actually see the entire form. They are very far along on the memorial. It took a very long time to build the understructure of this, because there’s parking garages, there’s security, there’s a PATH train system, there’s all kinds of things that had to be built underground. They have done that, and they’re at ground level and the memorial, if you go down there now, the memorial, you can see what the memorial’s going to look like because the structure is in place. It’s going to take awhile to finish, but they’re on track to open that on time now as well. So, there’s been real progress in the last year and a half, real visible progress, that I think for people who visit the site, I think it’s reassuring that finally they’ve gotten past the morass of four or five years of nothing happening, and things seem to be happening pretty quickly now.

John Sparks
As you and I are speaking, Marist is also polling asking people if they feel the government has done too much or too little take care of the families of the 9/11 victims and those first responders who worked in the days following the attacks. We really don’t have an idea of what those results will tell us. Do you have any feel for this from the people that you talk to?

Jay DeDapper
Well, I mean nationally or locally, I think that it’s hard to find … you would be hard pressed to find people who are going to vociferously talk about how the first responders haven’t — we haven’t done enough for the first responders. Whether people think privately though that that is the case, I don’t know, and I don’t know if you’re going to find that in polling. It’s a super sensitive issue. It’s a live wire still. I think that we’ve seen, at least politically, that bills that have been advanced to fund to the tune of several billion dollars additional medical help and other kinds of help for first responders that were there and that are suffering medically, I think you’ve seen opposition of that and politically from politicians who aren’t from the Northeast and aren’t from New York. Whether that reflects a broader measure of their constituents’ feeling like this is welfare for first responders on Ground Zero, I don’t know. I don’t know that you’re going to get that answer in polling, but certainly there has been evidence of that, at least politically there’s been evidence of what’s been called first responder fatigue by some commentators.

John Sparks
I’d like to ask you one more thing. A number of folks I talk to miss seeing you at NBC and I’m just curious about what kind of things you’re up to these days.

Jay DeDapper
I’ve been running a production company, video production company, and we’re making videos, especially for the Web, for lots of clients — nonprofits, organizations, companies, and it’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot of fun to make videos that are different than what I’ve done for the 20-25 years I was in television news. Branching out from everything from doing cooking things with chefs to a biography of a huge soccer star for a sports network, so it’s been a lot of fun doing different kinds of things and I’m enjoying that a lot.

John Sparks
So if anyone was interested in engaging your services, do you have a Web site, a company name?

Jay DeDapper
Yeah, dedappermedia.com. Last name D-E-D-A-P-P-E-R Media dot.com. That’s the Web site.

9/9: Top Ten Reasons Cuomo Has Not Endorsed a Democrat for AG

September 9, 2010 | by Marist Poll

By Dr. Lee M. Miringoff

Here are the top 10 reasons Andrew Cuomo has not endorsed a candidate for the Democratic primary for Attorney General:

10. Thinks all five of the candidates are equally qualified
9.    Unaware of candidates’ shoe size so logically doesn’t know who would best follow in his footsteps
8.    Says he doesn’t know enough about the position to make a selection
7.    Doesn’t think any is likely to be the greatest attorney general in the greatest state in the only world we know
6.   Plans to write in Bob Abrams… what was good enough for Mario…
5.   Never endorses in Democratic primaries except in the summer of ‘82
4.   Is still thinking it through
3. Promised he would pick Eliot Spitzer to fill a vacant AG seat in exchange for Spitzer’s vote this November
2. Wants to leave his options open in case he changes his mind about running for governor to stay as attorney general
1. Thought the Marist Poll would have already identified the front-runner instead of ducking a difficult prediction

Irwin Redlener, M.D., F.A.A.P.

| by Marist Poll

Irwin Redlener, M.D., is professor of Clinical Population and Family Health and director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and is one of ten members of the congressionally-established National Commission on Children and Disasters. Dr. Redlener speaks and writes extensively on national disaster preparedness policies, pandemic influenza, the threat of terrorism in the U.S. and related issues.

Dr. Irwin Redlener

Dr. Redlener is also president and co-founder of the Children’s Health Fund and has expertise in health care systems, crisis response and public policy with respect to access to health care for underserved populations.

Dr. Redlener, a pediatrician, has worked extensively in the Gulf region following Hurricane Katrina where he helped establish ongoing medical and public health programs. He also organized medical response teams in the immediate aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks on 9/11 and has had disaster management leadership experience internationally and nationally. He is the author of Americans At Risk: Why We Are Not Prepared For Megadisasters and What We Can Do Now, published in August 2006 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

Bonnie Angelo

August 27, 2010 | by Marist Poll

Bonnie Angelo is the author of First Families: The Impact of the White House on Their Lives and First Mothers: The Women Who Shaped the Presidents.

Bonnie Angelo

In Ms. Angelo’s more than 25 year career with Time Magazine, she has covered the White House and other current events, both, domestically and internationally.

8/13: The Eco-friendly Way

August 13, 2010 | by Marist Poll

By John Sparks

Jim Motavalli has been writing on the environment for more than a decade. His work has appeared in the Mother Nature Network, E Magazine, and the New York Times. In this interview with The Marist Poll’s John Sparks, he talks about organic food, what people can do to preserve our environment, and the environmental efforts of the Obama administration. Listen to or read the interview below.

Jim Motavalli

John Sparks
Jim, the Marist Poll recently conducted a national survey, and we asked the American public to think about how they live, the things they buy, specifically to help the environment. 76% told us that they do a fair amount to help the environment. Do you think that folks are really conscious and really doing that much to help out with our environment these days?

Jim Motavalli
No, I think people tend to exaggerate their environment. I think their involvement. I think people tend to think that putting out their recycling bin is like being a pretty good environmental soldier.

John Sparks
When I read things like the BP oil spill, global warming, threats to wildlife, I confess that I sometimes feel that the battle to preserve our planet is lost. Is it too late to get involved and start trying to be more eco-friendly?

Jim Motavalli
No, I mean it’s — if you were to just look at it: Is it too late to stop global warming? It definitely is. Global warming’s going to happen whether we continue to burn fossil fuels or not. If we could stop tomorrow, we’d still have a hundred years of global warming, because carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere. But, if you’re thinking about leaving any kind of long-term legacy for the planet, the planet certainly is savable. Anything we do I think is reversible, so I don’t think … I mean a lot of things are probably irreversible, but saving human life on the planet isn’t.

John Sparks
Does living green have to be difficult? I’m just curious what some of the little things that people could do to help out might be.

Jim Motavalli
I don’t think it has to be — being like eating everything local, for example, that’s pretty difficult. People have tried to do that, and I think you end up going through so many hoops, it’s not even worth it. You have to define what is local and all that kind of thing, and having zero environmental footprint is pretty hard. I think, but really reducing your impact, I think people can do little things that have that effect.

John Sparks
What advice might you have for those that would like to be more eco-friendly but just don’t where to begin?

Jim Motavalli
Well, I think you should look up, and there’s a lot of websites that would help you do this. Understand where your main planetary impacts are. Like everybody has a carbon footprint, and certain things like the car you drive has a lot to do with how your carbon footprint is, and you can reduce that in a lot of not too difficult ways.

John Sparks
One of the things that we asked folks had to do with gardening and this business of organic food. First of all, 48% of our respondents said they personally have a garden where they grow their fruits and vegetables. Does that number seem inflated to you?

Jim Motavalli
40% say they have a garden?

John Sparks
Yeah.

Jim Motavalli
Well I’m sure that they grow some, they grow some things. Not… I don’t think 40% grow all their own vegetables. That would seem inflated. Growing some, yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised.

John Sparks
I wanted to ask you specifically about organic food, and the Department of Agriculture released a study. It said that last year sales of organic food were up to $21 billion. Back in 1997 it was just a little over 3.5 billion. We go to the supermarket, we encounter labels in the produce section which say “organic.” When you see that label that says “organic,” what exactly does that mean?

Jim Motavalli
The organic standard is a federally recognized or federally enforced standard that you cannot use unless you’re certified organic. The word “natural” doesn’t mean anything, but the word “organic” does, actually for about ten years now, have an actual legal meaning. So, it means that it met the federal organic standards, which are pretty good. So, it does mean quite a lot.

John Sparks
What are some of those standards?

Jim Motavalli
They’re very detailed and very technical, but it has…you’re not allowed to use pesticides, and you’re not allowed to use herbicides, and it has to be for a certain number of years you didn’t use any of those things.

John Sparks
One thing the organic label usually means is higher prices for those products, and I’m just curious why that is.

Jim Motavalli
Well, I think it is more expensive to farm organically. It is more expensive to do organic pest control, for instance, and generally you’re talking about smaller scale operations that don’t have the economies of scale you get with big factory farms. The cost of production is a lot higher.

John Sparks
And no chances of prices coming down then on organic foods?

Jim Motavalli
Well, prices have come down as organic food has become part of the factory food system because you have many large organic farms now that have swallowed up…I mean you can look at something like on the retail end, you’ve got Whole Foods, which has swallowed up a number of smaller chains, and you have large organic producers swallow up smaller organic producers, so the end result is larger companies which do have more economies of scale. You also have a lot of these companies now selling into supermarkets where they used to just sell into health food stores, and you have these enormous Whole Foods-type natural food supermarkets. So, there’s a lot – – the market is a lot bigger, and I think all that has resulted – – and there’s more competition, all of which has resulted in lower prices. So, prices are a lot lower than they used to be, even though it’s still a fair amount higher. You can walk into any supermarket now and buy organic milk, and it’s not that much more than regular milk.

John Sparks
The Obama administration has been pushing for legislation that would create new clean energy jobs and a more sustainable energy policy. I’m just curious your take on what passage of that kind of legislation would mean for the everyday American. We’ve got a pretty tough economy as it is right now.

Jim Motavalli
A lot of it depends on what the legislation is. It’s been through many different changes. The current form of it does not include any sort of cap and trade system, and it’s quite a bit weaker than it used to be. I was for the stronger forms of those bills that did include cap and trade, so I think…there’s lots of good things in those bills, like for example, I cover the car industry quite a bit, and there’s provisions that would create something like 15 initial deployment areas for EVs in which you would get fairly major subsidies if you bought them. That’s part of that bill. There’s lots of good provisions in it, but on the whole, it’s weaker than it could be.

John Sparks
You’ve written quite a lot about the automobile industry, and I know you contribute to the New York Times, and you have a professional relationship with Mother Nature Network. When did you become interested in environmental issues yourself?

Jim Motavalli
I’m going to have to trace that back to about 1994 when I first started writing for E/The Environmental Magazine. Before…actually before that, I had been editor of a alternative weekly paper where I did a lot of – – I did some environmental reporting anyway. As a result of that, I started getting interested in the issues, but then I got quite a bit more interested when I became editor of E Magazine, and that was like 1994.

John Sparks
I presume that Mother Nature Network, their website, might be a good place for folks to start…

Jim Motavalli
Oh definitely, yeah, it’s very – – there’s a lot of stuff on there.

John Sparks
Any new adventures or projects that you’re involved with you’d like to share with our listeners?

Jim Motavalli
I’ve started a new piece on greenwashing for America Online. I do a regular thing for AOL. I’m also the blogger for Car Talk at NPR. You know, Click and Clack, most people are familiar with them, and I have a new professional relationship with the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, so I do some things with them. I’ve been doing as much…in addition to the car writing, I’ve been doing a lot of general interest environmental reporting on a number of different issues. Like for instance, I wrote a story for Knowledge at Wharton recently about carbon fraud. It’s amazing that even though I support the idea of cap and trade, there has been a fair amount of fraud in cap and trade operations in Europe.

John Sparks
Anything else you’d like to add before we call it a day?

Jim Motavalli
Well, I think people are making environmental progress. It’s kind of slow and halting, but I do think we are making a good effort. I think President Obama is the most environmentally friendly president we’ve had in a very long time. He has all kinds of obstacles in getting environmental legislation through, but I think he has pointed the EPA and the Department of the Interior in the right direction. All that has made a big difference. And, I think he’s enacted some very good initiatives that don’t necessarily require Congressional approval, so I think he’s been a very positive force in environmental action.

7/28: Sports Ethics

July 28, 2010 | by Marist Poll

By John Sparks

This season there have been an increasing number of empty seats at major league ballparks, and the television audience continues to decrease. Could baseball have finally out-priced itself for most fans? And, are ethics compromised when it comes to sports? The Marist Poll’s John Sparks discusses these issues with Richard Lapchick, Founder and Director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics In Sport at the University of Central Florida.

John Sparks
Rich, 54% of the American public tell us they do not follow baseball at all as a national past time. Why do you think that is?

Dr. Richard Lapchick
Well, John, to be honest with you, when I hear the number 54% don’t, that means 46% do. To me that’s a substantial amount of people. I’m not sure if more than 55 or 60% of the public will say they’re great sports fans and that follow any particular sport, so I’m not sure that that tells us that baseball has a smaller following. I think that 40 is almost half of the people say they follow baseball, that’s pretty substantial.

John Sparks
Now I watch games this year, and seen a lot of empty seats. We’ve heard complaints about high ticket prices, concessions, parking, and we’ve seen multimillion dollar player salaries; yet, as I said, attendance seems to be down. Could it be that the American public feels that there’s just much too greed in baseball?

Dr. Richard Lapchick
Well I don’t have any doubt, John, that the public that if they rationally compared the salaries of teachers and teachers who are being laid off in huge numbers around the country in the recession to the kinds of contracts that are signed in baseball and now with the NBA’s free agency, you can pretty much pick the sport, it’s true in all sports, that the public would say, “Yes, the dollars being spent in baseball or in any other sport are enormous.” And I think that perhaps a bigger factor, however, because that never really affected fans coming to games before, I think the biggest factor here is we’re having a lot of people who are baseball fans and fans of other sports who are deeply affected by the economy and simply can’t afford to go to the games.

John Sparks
Undoubtedly. I read an article this week in the paper, the Nokona Leather Company in Texas, it’s the only place in the United States now where baseball gloves are made. All others are made where labor is cheap overseas. This gets into our economic situation. I’m just wondering this picture of people working for pennies to make the tools of the trade for players who make millions, what does that say about us as a nation?

Dr. Richard Lapchick
Well outsourcing our manufacturing process is hardly limited to baseball, basketball, and football. This is something that has plagued the American economy and the American worker for more than two decades now. I think everybody here would prefer that these things were produced in the United States. I think the reality of the economy is under capitalism, we’re going to go wherever we can produce the products cheaper, and the cheap labor doesn’t exist in the United States as it is overseas.

John Sparks
Rich, let’s talk about college sports. We now have a Big 12 Conference that has 10 teams and a Big Ten Conference which has 12 teams because of the switches being made by universities that are seeking more money, better television contracts. How out of hand has college football become? There’s just tremendous need for money, money, money.

Dr. Richard Lapchick
Well I think recent switches of a few teams in college sport, which of course was anticipated there’d be much bigger switches in the Big 12 Conference, might actually evaporate. I think it was one more explanation point on the generally accepted assumption that college sport has become a big business in the United States and decisions are made on how much money is going to be spent and how much money’s going to be earned by college sports much more than the competitive nature of the games.

John Sparks
Well I know that colleges, like everyone else, they’re hard strapped for money and they of course see Division I athletics as being a good source of income. But have we out priced our tickets for major college sports? Is there a point where folks will say, “Enough’s enough”?

Dr. Richard Lapchick
Well there’s definitely going to be a place where people say that “I can’t afford it and I’m not going to take my family of four to see Kentucky play because I just can’t afford the tickets anymore,” but there are of course those hard-core fans and corporate dollars are filling skyboxes and driving the industry not only in college sport but in professional sports also and I think that — I think to predict what’s happening is difficult under this — under these economic circumstances. I think if this continues after the recession and fans stay away and fans don’t go to games and don’t buy licensed products, et cetera, then I think we’ll realize that the drive for money above all else has cost us the most beloved part of or the part of the beloved nature of sports is we have people who play the sports and people who are fans of those who play the sports.

John Sparks
Is this pressure to make more money the reason why a lot of college coaches and university officials will keep students on their teams after they’ve been arrested for criminal behavior?

Dr. Richard Lapchick
Well I think coaches want to win. They realize that they’re going to play better, so they’re going to have more chances either to increase their contracts and have a little more longevity at a particular place or get a better job at a different place, so there are coaches who will turn a blind eye to what I think is a terrible situation. Especially in the cases of domestic violence when an athlete gets an act of sexual aggression against a woman, I think that’s the one set of circumstances where there should be an automatic banning of the players for at least a certain period of time and we see players banned for other things. I think the most egregious thing that men do in this society is batter women, not just athletes. I don’t think athletes do it in disproportionate numbers, but I think when they do there should be consequences for it.

John Sparks
Rich, you head up the Institute for Ethics and Diversity in Sports. Can you tell our listeners what the Institute is and some of the things that it does?

Dr. Richard Lapchick
John, we publish 24 studies a year and try to generate an average of a book a year on things that we think are — where there’s missing information in sport. We published a racial and gender report card which analyzes the hiring practices in the NBA, NFL, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, and all college sport. We’re adding this year the U.S. Tennis Association. We do a report card for the Associated Press affiliated newspapers and dot-com sites, about 405 papers in the country, on who is — who are our editors, copyeditors, writers, and columnists in our major papers and dot-com sites. Do graduation rate studies. Do Division 1A programs around the country, break them down by race and sport. We also do the hiring report card for the Black Coaches Association and Women’s Basketball, Men’s Division 1 football and athletic — Division 1 athletic directors.

John Sparks
Rich, it’s always a pleasure talking to you, appreciate your time today.

7/15: Instant Replay in the MLB

July 15, 2010 | by Marist Poll

By John Sparks

“To err is human, to forgive divine.”
-Alexander Pope

A whopping 73% of baseball fans have told the Marist Poll that they like the idea of expanding the use of instant replay in baseball.

For all of its shortcomings, television coverage of the baseball games has given the armchair fans the best seat in the house for close plays and determining whether a pitch is in the strike zone.

It’s also put more pressure on the umpires to make the correct calls, and when they don’t, it puts them in the hot seat and casts a shadow on the integrity of the game.

We know the men in blue are human just as we are. They make mistakes. If it’s a judgment call, the call is not subject to dispute. If the ump errs and makes a ruling contrary to the rulebook, that’s another case and can cause the game to be played under protest.

So, should we apply the technology of television’s instant replay to become the final word on a judgment call?

I’m not so sure. I have mixed feelings.

I’m all for correct calls, but I’m also concerned about long games. I’m not crazy about the game being halted while officials study video replays on close calls.

Baseball showcases our shortcomings. We post defensive errors for all to see in the line score. Players in the field are so separated that there is never much doubt when one makes a mistake and which one that is. On the field, a batter who fails 70 percent of the time is a hero who bats .300.

Some players and their mistakes become legends. Ask Bill Buckner or Ralph Branca. Sometimes, close calls which could go either way become the difference in the outcome of the game. Sometimes, the emotions associated with them get the best of a team and turn the tide as well.

So, will the instant replay change all that? No doubt it would make a difference and certainly correct egregious errors. But, it won’t correct all of them. There’s always the problem of the different angles, and sometimes they can show different results.

Alexander Pope wrote “To err is human, to forgive divine.” We saw that illustrated last month when first base umpire Jim Joyce cost Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game. Joyce admitted his error, and Galarraga forgave him. It was the right thing to do, and it was classy.

Had the instant replay been in effect to overrule Joyce’s call it would have been a bizarre way to end such a triumph and undoubtedly would have taken some time to employ. It’s hard to picture the fans waiting around in the stands in suspense to learn the outcome.

Regardless, I suspect MLB will adopt the instant replay in some form or fashion. It probably won’t be perfect and will be refined over time. It may even bring about some new issues which we haven’t even thought about.

7/14: Multitasking Bad for the Brain?

July 14, 2010 | by Marist Poll

One could argue that digital technology has helped make us better multitaskers. These days, we can simultaneously check our e-mails, monitor our Twitter feeds and listen to a podcast, all while eating our breakfast. Wouldn’t it make sense that such a capacity for divided attention is making our brains stronger?

Unfortunately, that might not be the case. Experiments comparing the ability of heavy multitaskers – thus designated based on self-reports about their technology use – to non-multitaskers, found that the latter group actually performs better on certain cognitive tasks. In a Stanford study, cited in a recent New York Times article, subjects participated in a test that required them to ignore extraneous inputs, a measure of their ability to filter out distractions. (You can take a test on ignoring distractions here.) In another test, participants had to switch between tasks, showing their ability to adjust to new information and task demands on the fly. (Take a task-switching test here.) In both cases, the non-multitaskers performed better than heavy multitaskers. Based on these and other experiments, the scientists surmised that multitaskers are more responsive to new incoming information. On the positive side, one might say the multitaskers are more alert to new stimuli; on the negative side, one could claim their multitaskers’ focus is more easily disrupted.

As with many scientific studies, the tests in this case might not truly reflect real world situations. A cognitive test in a laboratory could fall short of replicating the experience of juggling computer applications. As always, more study is needed to examine, among other things, how different amounts of multitasking affect performance on cognitive tasks, and whether the recency of one’s immersion in technology affects the ability to direct attention. Nonetheless, it would appear that heavy use of gadgets and computers is influencing our brain function.

On the plus side, there is also evidence that screen technology benefits certain cognitive skills. It has been demonstrated in the laboratory that playing action video games improves visual attention in several ways. Gamers show the ability to process more visual inputs than non-gamers, the ability to process inputs across a greater field of view, and a better ability to process inputs presented in rapid succession. Considering the deficits shown by people with disabilities and the demonstrated erosion of certain cognitive skills among the elderly, perhaps, action video games – or programs that mimic them – can be used therapeutically.

Above all else, the experiments reveal the apparent power of technology to mold our brains, for better and for worse. The question, however, may be whether we can harness our gadgets’ power to maximize the benefits and minimize the harm.

7/14: Baseball Strikes Back

| by Marist Poll

By John Sparks

The other day I criticized television’s coverage of Major League Baseball — specifically television’s pre-occupation with taking shots and talking about things that have little to do with the strategies and nuances of the game being played on the field.

The dramatic close-up shots of the players, the shots of celebrities in the stands, and announcers talking about things other than the ongoing game are the things that I dislike most. I would like to see more shots of the entire field so I can see where the defense positions itself against different hitters in different situations. That doesn’t happen much.

So, what to do? Go to the ballpark to enjoy the game. The price of tickets, parking and concessions aside, there is nothing like an evening at the ballpark. You can see the entire field. You can enjoy the finer points of the game and the strategy employed by both teams. The pace is such that you can also enjoy a pleasant conversation with your companions at the same time. Well almost …

Two weeks ago, I went out to the Ballpark in Arlington to watch the Texas Rangers host the Pittsburgh Pirates.

I got quite a bit more than I had bargained for. For starters there were the loudspeakers blaring so loud I could not carry on a conversation with the person sitting next to me. Every batter has his own song which is played each time he makes a plate appearance. Most of these songs are rap or Tejano. There was one exception. Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus singled, and the speakers started playing “Don’t Be Cruel.” Why, you ask? Think about it. It’s just another hit by Elvis.

Baseball isn’t the product being sold these days. The ball clubs will tell you they’re now in the family entertainment business. The game and its stars are no longer deemed enough to draw us there and hold our attention.

So, there’s the dot race, the kiss cam, the muscle cam, and the wiffle ball home run contest at the adjoining kids’ park. There’s also a contest where kids literally steal a base and get to keep it, a video version of the old shell game where you guess which cap the baseball is hidden under after being shuffled around, the Cotton-eyed Joe, and various other sponsored announcements blasting over the speakers and projected on the giant jumbotron for all to see and hear.

Just as television has determined that it must inject more excitement into a game, major league clubs are doing the same thing at the game itself.

Perhaps, these distractions are designed to make up for the lack of a pennant contender on the field. For way too many years that has been the case with the Texas Rangers. So far this season though, there’s something strange going on. The Rangers find themselves atop the AL West at the All-Star break. Gimmicks or not, nothing brings the fans out like a winner. So, besides voting for my All-Star selections, I also vote to cut back on the side shows at the Show. And, please turn down the volume on the speakers.

7/13: The President and the Midterm Elections

July 13, 2010 | by Marist Poll

By Dr. Lee M. Miringoff

If there is a silver lining for President Obama in Marist’s latest national poll numbers, it is that well into his second year as president– by more than 2 to 1– the electorate still thinks current economic conditions are mostly inherited from the Bush years and not the result of Obama’s policies. Admittedly, the current number of voters who blame prior failed Republican policies—62%— is substantially lower than the 76% who felt that way in the spring of 2009. But, it still represents a strong argument for the president as he shifts into campaign mode and tries to preserve his party’s margin in Congress.

I suspect this view is reflected in the President’s internal polls and in what his advisers have been telling him. In his June 30th town hall meeting in Racine, Wisconsin, President Obama noted: “I just want everyone to remember—we’ve tried the other side’s theories…. We know where they led us… we can return to what we know did not work, or we can build a stronger future. We can go backwards or we can go forward.” Ditto for his Missouri campaign style swing where among other things he said, “It’s a choice between the policies that got us into this mess in the first place and the policies that are getting us out of this mess.” Not too subtle. Certainly, not a bi-partisan appeal.

But, things are far from rosy for President Obama and drawing upon the past is mixed. The Marist Poll finds that the nation is largely divided on his handling of the economy as it is on his overall approval rating. More troublesome for the president, however, is that for the first time, the Marist numbers point to more voters who now think Obama has fallen short of their expectations than think he has met or exceeded them. In this instance, turning the clock back to 2008 does not pay dividends for the president.

With the eyes of the political community already fixed on the midterm elections, national polls are providing some preliminary data that turnout is unlikely to demographically reflect the 2008 electorate. According to Charlie Cook’s analysis of the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, interest is greater among McCain 2008 voters than those who supported Obama. GOP’ers are hopeful that the election is a referendum on President Obama, and this translates into a wholesale turnover in Congress. Team Obama wants to make it a choice about who can best lead into the future and is claiming that progress on many fronts has been slowed by obstructionist Republican representatives. The battle lines are being drawn as sides try to rally their base and appeal to the all important Independent voter.

But, which side will be taking a victory lap in November? Although the White House has been caught off-guard in the past, they seem to be gearing up on schedule for the fall elections. The somewhat daunting political task facing President Obama is how to re-energize his 2008 winning coalition. He needs to mobilize young and minority voters who provided him his winning margin two years ago while finding a way to win back independent voters who have strayed. This may prove to be a tall order for the president.