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Thursday, November 06, 2014

MaineBiz conundrum - a post election survey by the Maine Chamber of Commerce says whaaaa?

Okay now I'm really stumped!  Maybe I'm just not reading this e-magazine on line report correctly.
Here's the link to the original content:
http://enews.mainebiz.biz/private/nkwq3402dt/yvO/azlZVEv/browse/22596923

Maine joins the nation with the other states who experienced Republican victories in the 2014 mid term elections. 

Astoundingly, however, a report published by MaineBiz, in a post election e-newsletter, shows 1.1 percent, nearly zero, respondents expressed "satisfaction" with the outcome of an election that, I'm assuming, all the respondents participated in, by voting.

Just in case a reader can't see the outcome of the survey due to the small print, this is how it was reported in MaineBiz:

Question of the week (reported Thursday November 6, 2014)

Yesterday we asked:
Republican Gov. Paul LePage was re-elected by Maine voters Tuesday, winning against Democat Mike Michaud and independent Eliot Cutler. Other incumbents, like Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree, were also re-elected. Republican candidate and former state treasurer Bruce Poliquin won over Democrat Emily Cain and independent Blaine Richardson for Maine's second congressional district.
Are you satisfied with Tuesday's election results?

One reported narrative response:
"Once again the Democrats have blown a chance at the Blaine House because of poor strategy choices. They should have stuck with their first instinct of asking Eliot Cutler to be their supported candidate. They should have taken the effort to make it work — even if he ran as an independent. Think about it. If given the choice, who would most Democrats vote for if it was a two person race? Certainly not LePage! Our political parties could learn something from watching the strategies of parliamentary systems."

Another reported narrative response:
"We've elected two bullies to high office in Maine, one with questionable ethics when it comes to his real estate taxes. The pendulum will swing back, I hope, in two years. Even though I look forward to that swing, I am tired of both extremes and wish there was more middle ground."

And a third narrative response:  "It is as it should be..."

So, okay, let me get the right. In MaineBiz, nearly zero respondents said they  were completely satisfied with the November 4, 2014 election results.  

Moreover about 65 percent of those who responded said they were either completely dissatisfied or somewhat dissatisfied with the election results. I'm assuming these 65 percent are reporting based upon how they voted, and the election went contrary to their choices. It makes no sense. If a majority of people who were surveyed about the election outcome responded that they were unsatisfied with the outcome, then it certainly raises the logical question of how did the "unsatisfied" outcome happen? 

This survey outcome becomes even "curiouser", based upon the assumption that most respondents are from conservative political camps (frankly, I'm unaware of any particularly left wing leanings among Chamber of Commerce membership).

What does it mean?  Shrug....ahhhh....hmmmmm...????

Thanks MaineBiz for this timely feedback.  I suppose this is not an outlier survey.  Is it possible the national mood about the 2014 election is similarly confounding?

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