Scroll down to read this post.

 

My February birthday fund-raising campaign for this website, Behind the Black, is now over. Despite a relatively weak initial three weeks, the last week was spectacular, making this campaign the second best ever.

 

Thanks to every person who donated or subscribed. It continues to astonish me that people who can read my work for free like it enough to donate money voluntarily. Words cannot express my appreciation for that support, especially in these uncertain times.

 

If you have been a regular reader and a fan of my work and have not yet donated or subscribed, please consider doing so. I take no ads, I keep the website clean from pop-ups and annoying demands (most of the time). Thus, I depend entirely on my readers to support me. Though this means I am sacrificing some income, it also means that I remain entirely independent from outside pressure. By depending solely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, no one can threaten me with censorship. You don't like what I write, you can simply go elsewhere.

 

You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:

 

1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.

 

2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
 

3. A Paypal Donation:

4. A Paypal subscription:


5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
 
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652


Today’s blacklisted American: Republicans and conservatives increasingly unwilling to talk to pollsters out of fear

Joe Biden's
Joe Biden’s anti-conservative rally on September 1, 2022

Blacklists are back and the Democrats have got ’em: According to pollsters, the vicious almost slanderous attacks by President Biden against Republicans and conservatives — following decades of similar harsh language from Democrats nationwide — is causing these voters to increasingly refuse to talk to pollsters about their opinions.

In a Twitter thread, Trafalgar Group chief pollster Robert C. Cahaly said that President Joe Biden’s recent attacks on so-called “MAGA Republicans” will make polling supporters of former President Donald Trump even harder to poll than in previous years. Cahaly pointed out that in the last two presidential election cycles, name-calling and threats from prominent Democrats contributed to the phenomenon of the “shy Trump voter.” But as the 2022 midterms have begun in earnest, Biden’s escalating rhetoric against Trump supporters, accusing them of embracing “semi-fascism” and being a threat to America, will make these voters even harder to reach in polling.

“In 2016 Trump supporters were called ‘Deplorables’ and other unflattering names,” Cahaly wrote on Twitter. “This was a major contributor to the ‘shy Trump voter’ phenomenon that ‘most’ polling missed which resulted in a major loss in public confidence for polling flowing the election.”

“In 2020 people who supported Trump or espoused conservative values out of step with ‘Woke’ culture found themselves being ‘canceled’ or ‘doxed,’” Cahaly continued. “This led to ‘hidden voters’ that ‘most’ polling under counted, therefore Trump support in key battleground states exceeded expectations. Now [the] Biden administration has essentially classified ‘MAGA Republicans’ as a threat to democracy marshaling federal law enforcement to focus on them. This move has created a new type of voter that will be even harder to poll or even estimate.”

“I call this new group ‘submerged voters,’” Cahaly went on. “They aren’t putting stickers on their cars, signs in their yards, posting their opinions, or even answering polls. At this point I think it’s fair to say that Biden’s pursuit of and attacks on ‘MAGA Republicans’ has created an army of voters who will be virtually impossible to poll (even for us) and more difficult still to estimate.”

Cahaly’s conclusions were endorsed by numerous other pollsters. Essentially, what these surveyors are finding is that conservatives have become fearful of the Stalinist blacklisting culture that the Democrats have been espousing, and was epitomized by Biden’s anti-Maga speech on September 1, 2022. Not only did Biden paint all his opponents as evil and fascists, he did it in front of a background that instantly invoked the many Hitler rallies in 1930s Germany. In fact, though I did not watch the speech, when I first saw images of it I couldn’t believe it. I honestly thought this background was being faked by his conservative opponents, in an effort to illustrate the intolerant nature of the speech.

Instead, Biden and his administration themselves highlighted their intolerant nature, by their own choice of scenery.

Regardless, the result has been the terrified silencing of many ordinary conservatives. Rather than risk actual blacklisting to themselves or their families, Republicans are simply going quiet. They have blacklisted themselves, and are now desperately hoping that by voting strongly against this intolerant and oppressive Democratic Party in their secret ballot on election day in November, they will finally see this ugly blacklisting stopped.

The pollsters note that this silencing has essentially made it impossible to get reliable poll numbers prior to the election, especially in regions where are Democrats are presently in control. As one pollster noted in the article at the link, ““It raises the possibility that the apparent Democratic strength in Wisconsin and elsewhere is a mirage.”

Robert C. Cahaly’s comments above noted this pattern in the 2020 election, where the polls said Biden would easily win several states, when in fact he either lost or barely came out ahead. And in those close Biden victories — like Wisconsin and Arizona — there is ample evidence that the election results were tampered with to favor Biden, thus making the final Biden win questionable.

The reliability of the coming election of course could make the hidden Republican voter irrelevant. If the Democrats still have the ability to shift the vote illegally — which in many states it appears they still do — then it won’t matter how many hidden Republican voters there are. The Democrats will shift the vote totals to guarantee a win, and will then follow up with even more vicious blacklisting, censorship, and oppression. Anyone who is so willing to cheat to win will have no reluctance to cement that fake victory with persecution.

In fact, Biden’s speech and the Democrats’ general behavior since 2020 strongly suggests they did cheat in that election. They certainly have not acted like they themselves believe they have the will of the people behind them. Instead, they have eagerly embraced tyranny, censorship, and persecution of their opponents.

If they should hold power after November 8th, we should expect them to ramp up exponentially their effort to smash a boot into the faces of anyone who challenges them.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

22 comments

  • Col Beausabre

    This means the Fascists are winning. The first step is to silence the opposition through fear

  • Gary H

    I’ve always refused to talk to pollsters, or fill out surveys. These days, after leaving the bathroom, Google asks how you liked your experience. “Screw You” has always been my answer.

  • LTC SDS

    I generally did not talk to pollsters because it’s none of their business. But I did occasionally. I completely stopped after the last election cycle, because two times in a row it was apparent that the questions were fishing for predetermined answers. Both times I stopped the questioner. Once to ask a question, the other to ask to speak with a supervisor. In both instances they hung up on me. Polling is a bunch of disingenuous B.S. and we conservatives know it. I hope their industry goes belly up so something better can grow from its ashes.

  • Edward

    Robert wrote: “Not only did Biden paint all his opponents as evil and fascists, he did it in front of a background that instantly invoked the many Hitler rallies in 1930s Germany.

    Worse than that, he literally had the Marine Corps behind him, indicating that the entire government has taken sides and backs up his side of politics.

    The fear instilled into the public through the pandemic has bled over into politics. Not only have the progressive liberals put fear into their own people to ensure that they don’t disagree with them under pain of shunning, they now have put fear into the opposition party, who fear the consequences that the marines may bring.

    90 years ago, the Nazis were taking lessons from the U.S. Democratic Party, especially where eugenics was concerned. Now the Democratic Party is emulating its previous students. The strategies and tactics worked well last century, and they continue to work in this century.

    We may even soon see certain politicians or political parties banned from the ballots of some states.

    Instead of the post-racial America that the U.S. press promised with the Obama election, we got a post-Constitutional America.

    Welcome to Obama’s fundamentally transformed Amerika, land of the formerly free, home of the terrorized.

  • Micha Elyi

    America’s Founding Fathers: “We pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

    Today’s Fans of Orange Man: “Please don’t ask me. I don’t want to miss a promotion at my job.”

  • 370H55V

    I just got home a week ago from a lengthy summer vacation that took us through the Upper Midwest, the Black Hills in SD, upstate NY, and then back home to Florida with a DeSantis sticker on my car.

    Over the 12,000 miles I saw exactly ONE political sticker on a car–and that was for a race two years ago. Sad that people are afraid to speak out, but this is part of the pussification of America where no one’s pwecious widdle feewings must ever be hurt and no one should ever feel “uncomfortable” or “unsafe”.

  • GaryMike

    The only reason to speak with pollsters is to lie.

  • cthulhu

    It’s not “fear”, it’s a rational avoidance.

    As an example, consider https://www.foxnews.com/us/colorado-hiker-lost-ignored-incoming-calls-rescuers-didnt-recognize-number .
    NOBODY answers unknown callers any more — it’s going to be some idiot pollster who will misquote you to earn their stipend, or someone wanting to sell you something or induce you to donate. So you stop answering your phone — even if you’re stuck on a markerless trail on the side of a mountain somewhere.

  • David

    Three comments –

    1. Trafalgar Group’s polling results have been stellar over the last three election cycles (2016, 2018 & 2020), often correctly calling races that other older supposed top drawer polling firms swung and missed badly on. I’ve learned to pay attention to and respect Mr. Cahaly’s comments.

    2. There is not “ample” evidence that Arizona and Wisconsin presidential results were “tampered” with. This is a lie! At this point, I realize there are plenty of folks who wish to live in the delusions Trump lies about to this day. It is a sad comment on the state of things that so many people will continue to believe despicable falsehoods, no matter how much truth is laid before them. I don’t expect to change the mind of Mr. Zimmerman or those like him. As an American and a Republican though, I will always speak out in favor of the truth and to make it known that not all conservatives are infected with this “thing” griping our party and movement.

    3. Mr. Zimmerman, if you did not watch Biden’s speech, how do you know what he said (in context and not edited)? Did you read a transcript? Just curious how you drew such sweeping assessments since you said you did not watch the speech.

  • SDN

    Of course, if Micha Ilya were putting his money where his mouth is, he’d be in jail or dead instead of typing on blogs.

  • Taylor Lake

    The problem for the democrat party is that although they managed to cheat their way to “victory” in 2020, they had to pull out all the stops to do it and now a lot of their tricks are known. So for 2024, they are going to have to drop the fun-n-games and just make their direct lunge for absolute power.

    The 2022 midterms do not matter to the democrats. They are assuming they will lose the House. Their plan to make the USA into a one-party banana republic depends on the executive branch and its agencies, which they will still own in 2023 and 2024 no matter who controls the Congress. Their eyes are firmly set on 2024. They need to answer “Yes” to the following question: “Can you do it twice?”

    There is a reason why the J6 Kangaroo Kourt, the inevitable imprisonment of Donald Trump as the leader of a seditious conspiracy, and the identification of “MAGA Republicans” as a “clear and present danger” are what the donkeys talk about today, because that’s how they plan to “win” tomorrow: criminalizing their domestic political opposition, then setting it up as “violently extremist” in a way that threatens our elections and cannot be dealt with by ordinary measures.

    Here is their idea of a compelling campaign theme for 2024: a “national emergency” due to the existence of a “Vast, Right-Wing Conspiracy” to overthrow the government. That’s why Trump must go to prison, to “prove” the existence of the seditious conspiracy. The National State of Emergency will require the federal executive to intervene in select state elections where the “MAGA Threat” is greatest – federal election interference plans are already known to be in place, and they are playing hide-the-ball with FOIA requests on details about them. Wonder why.

    They are of course also desperately hoping for a violent incident to use as “evidence” of a dangerous MAGA Conspiracy. They will only succeed in convincing democrats to run over Republicans with their cars or to shoot at them during baseball games, so that will be kind of a disappointment, but the one-sided ability to use lethal violence is a neat consolation prize.

    After the Civil War, during their “reconstruction” all the former confederate states had “supervised” elections. Substitute “Red” for “confederate” and you can see the democrats’ long-term game plan. The only “Republican” candidates who will be allowed to stand for election are those who can prove they are neither members nor covert supporters of Donald Trump and his MAGA Conspiracy, and who swear a loyalty oath and submit to a federally-supervised campaign. It’s a National Emergency, after all! Abe Lincoln suspended Habeas Corpus in the Civil War, and we’re under an even greater thrat to our “precious democracy” now than then! We have to save the republic by rooting out all its domestic enemies…

    “But we have the Second Amendment,” you might say. True. The day is coming when people are going to be forced to do more than rely on it as a veiled threat against the totalitarians, because they are making their move. If a date with one of those new 87,000 IRS agents doesn’t persuade you, there’s always the now completely-weaponized FBI to set you up as a “domestic terrorist” or just frame you for something. Keeping your head down won’t be enough. You will be made to submit.

  • Cotour

    T Lake:

    Yes, they have been forced to reveal themselves to the public.

    What should the new Congress do in a very big way?

    1. Get to the truth about EVERYTHING, from Hunter and “The Big Guy”, to China. to Ukraine, to Big tech and Big pharma and reveal that to the public.

    And 2. Use the power of the purse to shut down the IRS, the FBI, the DOJ as best as they can. Defund that horrific 87,000 new and armed IRS agents. It is all but an extension of a Globalist / Democrat party machine agenda to destroy America as formulated and restructure it and its people in a more compliant and manageable populous.

    Ruthlessly using the purse as a political weapon is the only thing that they can do that has any teeth to it.

    The Republicans have been unwilling to do such in the past due to their RINO nature, that MUST change.

  • David: I am increasingly convinced you are a paid Democratic Party troll, especially since you only show up here, with a very carefully rotating IP address, in the months prior to elections. And like the seminar callers that Rush Limbaugh had to deal with, you claim you are a conservative yet always seem to argue against those ideas.

    Nonetheless, please look at the graphs from the election audits in Georgia and Arizona that I posted in this essay:

    How the localized nature of Democrat vote tampering will influence the 2022 election

    Both audits found significant problems that very easily could have changed the results. Similarly, in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania there is ample evidence of fraud, including the use of drop boxes and mail-in ballots that have since been ruled were entirely illegal. The election officials made up the rules, for the benefit of Democrats, with no legislative authority.

    I have presented you facts. All you have is the slander that “this is a lie!” and a “delusion.” I will let my readers decide who is more convincing.

    As for Biden’s speech, I’ve read the transcript. It fits with everything I wrote. Moreover, my conclusions about its fascist nature have been proven by Biden’s actions since, weaponizing the FBI against his opponents. It also fits in perfectly with the efforts of all Democrats to blacklist and crush their opponents in the past two years.

    Once again, I am presenting facts. All you have are the sweeping ugly accusations typical of modern Democrats. I will let my readers decide who makes the better argument.

  • Assuming the best, the difference could be in the definition of “ample” – but it’s difficult to gather _any_ evidence if one gets blacklisted for even raising the question.

    That attempt to shut down the conversation is, itself, “ample” evidence for me. Why block questions – let alone an actual audit – if there is nothing to hide? See 87,000 IRS agents.

  • pzatchok

    Since we have anonymous elections once the ballot is in the box there is no way to prove it was cast legitimately or not.
    The dems know this.

    Until each and every ballot is attached to the casters SSN and thumb print we will never know.
    By attaching them to the SSN and thumb print we can instantly check nationwide if someone else cast a vote with that same SSN for that election. We can also check to see if the person is dead on not.
    Before the caster is even out of the building they can be stopped and questioned if problems show up.

    No more illegals voting in national elections and no more multiple votes in different states.
    This would even work for mail in ballots.

  • pzatchok, how does your approach prevent the Powers That Be from knowing how you voted, personally?

    That is essential to assuring that each of us can vote our mind and conscience, instead of building a database for the intimidation the Pseudodent’s regime is ramping up as we speak.

  • David …

    The compromises in the election processes – junk-mail voting, hasty changes in election rules, and irregular activity in counting the votes; perpetrated by judges, governors and other unauthorized parties in haste in a crisis-not-to-waste – tainted the election as much as bad police procedure taints courtroom evidence that leads to its exclusion … and the government, as opposed to its individual operatives, does not qualify for the presumption of innocence.

    The compromises are all the evidence that is needed, that this election can’t be trusted and should have been sent to the House per the Constitution to vote in a President, not merely certify a compromised election. Of course, that would have led to Trump winning a second term, and they couldn’t validate 75 million deplorable people like that.

    And it is reinforced by the courts ducking their duty to adjudicate the process on technicalities.

    It is the job of government to prove that this election was on the up-and-up. And “because we say so” is not sufficient.

  • Cotour

    Trump had to go, and that is that.

    Why? Because Trump implements common sense and does not indulge in high minded intellectualized political theories as to how the people need to be controlled and what exactly their freedom is to consist of.

    And of course, Trump unexpectedly displaced the next in line Democrat party machine operative, Ma Barker.

    The Globalist “Climate Change” (Read: BS), “In the future you will own nothing, and you will be happy” mantra which is being used as the moral virtue signaling cudgel, which they use to justify any and all of their intellectualized high-minded and so very superior agenda.

    America is being brought down by the now IMO traitorous, Globalist Democrat party machine.

    Why? In order to rebuild America in a more compliant and constricted country.

    America is the last stand for the entire world and whatever freedom there now exists.

    By any means necessary means just that. And I throw in: Up to and including murder. And I mean that literally.

    And that is why it is essential that everything be done within the legal system to take down and literally destroy Trump and everything common sense that is Trumpian. You dare stand against them? And the same will be done to you.

    Are you paying attention America? It’s all up to you and no one else.

    The Constitution structures political warfare in America, it is essential, it is what keeps the country healthy as perverted and corrupt as we all can see it can become.

    And you are witness to the most extreme expression of that structure ever seen before in America.

    Why does the Democrat party machine cheat? Because they have to.

  • Cotour

    A little dose of reality:

    I went to Staples this morning.

    I needed to get 7 pages X’s 20 copies, and I need to get a copier cartridge for my printer.

    I would usually just drop off the project and pick it up copied and collated another day.

    I was told that I would have to do it myself and use the copiers at the front of the store.

    BUT, the copiers were not working, no internet. (You apparently cannot even make a simple copy if the internet is down?)

    Printer cartridge? Don’t have it.

    As I walked around the store, I noticed that most of the shelves are not stocked as they should have been, lots of spread-out items making the shelves look like they are full, but they were not.

    Not good.

    Went home and ordered the cartridge on Amazon, it will be here tomorrow.

    I would say that business models like Home Depot and Lowes are still solid business models, Staples and the like?

    Not so much. Especially after the Covid mandates and forced closings by the governments around the country and the forced inflation. All necessary IMO to destroy the American middle class and make us all dependent on government and their largess.

    Destroy the middle class: https://lobbyistsforcitizens.com/2021/04/14/why-the-americas-elite-want-to-end-the-middle-class/

    Are you paying attention American Democrats?

  • Edward

    markedup2 asked: “Why block questions – let alone an actual audit – if there is nothing to hide?

    There may be nothing to hide, but the process becomes the punishment. This is what Obama’s Amerika is doing to Trump, his family, his friends, his employees as president, and his supporters. Few did anything wrong, but they are punished severely merely for disagreeing with The Party’s positions.

    As in NAZI Germany, the government’s victims eventually decide that it is easier to go along than to continue the fight.

    pzatchok wrote: “Until each and every ballot is attached to the casters SSN and thumb print we will never know.

    However, once every ballot is attached to the casters, then the tyrants will know for certain who to punish and who reward. Safety after the election is the whole reason for the secret ballot. We know who voted but not how they voted.

    For more than two centuries, the secret ballot worked well, but then The Party started to fiddle with elections to set them more in The Party’s favor, such as in California.

    Jester Naybor wrote: “It is the job of government to prove that this election was on the up-and-up. And ‘because we say so’ is not sufficient.

    This is to say that a certified election is supposed to certify that the election was an accurate count without fraud, not that there wasn’t enough fraud to change the outcome. A fraudulent election is a fraudulent election, no matter how little fraud there was, which is why it was once important to eliminate all fraud, not just to limit it to being less than the vote margin. These days, fraudulent ballots have the same weight as valid ballots.

    In 2020, there were many instances in which it was clear that the ballot counters were untrustworthy. From the ejection of poll watchers and reporters from the counting rooms, to the erasure of data when some polls were audited, to the “clarification” of thousands of ballots at each of several polls, we know that Let’s Go Brandon’s own words ring true: It isn’t who votes that counts but who counts the votes.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrGEdF3JbUI#t=40 (1 minute)

    Brandon knew that he won because of who got to count the vote, count the vote, count the vote! He does not want legislative bodies to change the polls back to more unbiased counters.

Readers: the rules for commenting!

 

No registration is required. I welcome all opinions, even those that strongly criticize my commentary.

 

However, name-calling and obscenities will not be tolerated. First time offenders who are new to the site will be warned. Second time offenders or first time offenders who have been here awhile will be suspended for a week. After that, I will ban you. Period.

 

Note also that first time commenters as well as any comment with more than one link will be placed in moderation for my approval. Be patient, I will get to it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *