Hey folks, pretty cool news to report:
I just spoke with someone at Public Policy Polling,
one of the most highly respected political polling firms in the country. Over the last several election cycles, PPP has consistently had the most accurate polls compared to actual election results. Once every year, PPP does a national music-themed poll. (See results of the
2013 music poll below.) Although this is a light-hearted topic compared to their usual political polling, they take this poll very seriously, calling thousands of Americans and using scientific methods to determine statistically accurate approval ratings for many popular musicians.
Anyway, I suggested that they include Al in their next music poll. To my surprise, PPP replied and said yes, they would indeed include him in their next poll! So this means sometime in the next year or so, we will get actual scientific data about Weird Al's approval and disapproval ratings in the United States. Even more exciting (to a polling nerd like me), we will get full crosstabs which will tell us about how different subsets of the population feel about Al - ie: Democrats, Republicans, male, female, black, white, different age groups, etc.
I will of course post the results on WOWAY if and when this poll happens, but I thought you'd like to know.
Given how much I used to be made fun of in elementary and middle school for liking Weird Al, and how widely accepted he has since become in the mainstream pop culture, I am really curious to see what kind of approval/disapproval ratings he has nationally. We may find out soon!
PPP's 2013 music poll results:
A new music-oriented poll from Public Policy Polling finds widespread support for several genres and music and artists – but Americans are united in their dislike for teen pop sensation Justin Bieber. PPP tested the favorability ratings of several of today’s biggest music stars: Taylor Swift (53 approve - 27 disapprove), Adele (54-18), Beyonce (51-30), and Justin Timberlake (52-24) all received positive reviews from voters. Others didn’t fare as well – Chris Brown (13-57), Lady Gaga (29-50), Justin Bieber (20-54) were all rated unfavorably by 50% or more, and Jay-Z (25-44) and Rihanna (30-39) had net-negative favorability ratings as well. Veteran British rocker Morrissey (17-31 with 52% not sure) and dubstep pioneer Skrillex (11-35 with 54% not sure) were the least known of artists tested.
Bieber was the only artist whose unfavorability rating stretched across partisan lines – a majority of Democrats (23-54), Republicans (17-52), and independents (18-56) all reported negative views of the singer.
When asked who they’d most like to see as President when given the choices of Adele, Justin Bieber, Beyonce, Chris Brown, Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, or Rihanna, 34% chose Timberlake, with Adele (19%) and Beyonce (14%) also receiving double digits followed by Jay-Z (9%), Lady Gaga (9%), Bieber (8%), Chris Brown (5%) and Rihanna (2%).
Classical music (77 favorable-13 unfavorable), country (71-23), jazz (71-20), pop (59-26), R&B (58-27) and rock music (65-26) all received generally favorable reviews from voters. Respondents were less charitable towards rap music (19 fav -68 unfav). Dubstep, a form of electronic dance music that has recently gained in popularity received a 14 favorable, 38 unfavorable rating with 47% not sure. Voters were split in their opinion on “today’s popular music”, with 45% rating it favorable, 37% unfavorable and 19% not sure. When asked their favorite musical genre, 24% chose country, 22% classical, 16% rock and 12% pop, with R&B and jazz each earning 6%, dubstep 2% and rap 1%.
I couldn't tell a dirt clod from a plate of caviar.