Why would we care about the opinions of those who almost never fly? If you don’t fly at least once a year, you don’t get to tell the guy who has to fly every week that he needs to be exposed to radiation to make you feel safer as you sit in your recliner at home.
There’s a reason that political polls only care about “likely voters.” The only thing that matters for this poll should be frequent fliers, since they are the ones being sexually assaulted by their government on a regular basis.
It’s also very interesting to me that the numbers have shifted so quickly. 81% to 64% in a few weeks? And all it took were some stories on the Internet, which led to stories on the news, which led to Saturday Night Live and other late night parodies? Clearly, then, this is more a question of educating the public than anything else.
It’s safe to say, in other words, that a lot of people support the scanners only because they have no idea what they are or what they do. And they hear “pat down” and assume that it’s a standard frisk-type thing. Once you show them videos of little boys being stripped down, the mood shifts pretty fast.
Give it three more weeks, and more indications that people are going to fly less often as a result of all this, and you’ll see the airlines start pressuring Obama. Remember, the change only comes when one billionaire inconveniences two or more other billionaires.
As Silver suggests, there will be no official announcement. No admission of wrongdoing. They’ll just let up on the procedure quietly and go about their business.
