Although a lot has changed in the world over the past 20 years, one thing remains the same – Oklahomans prefer to cook chickens, not watch them fight.
Well, at least that’s the gist from an Oklahoma pollster.
Despite my recent call to legalize and regulate cockfighting in Oklahoma, and finally bring together rural redneck farmers and Chinese marijuana growers, a recent poll suggests that Oklahomans are more opposed to the blood sport today than they were about 20 years ago when they voted to ban it.
Well, at least they are according to this guy:
In case you care, that’s famed Oklahoma GOP henchman Pat McFerron – an influential pollster, lobbyist, and strategist who does a lot of the dirty work and planning for the local establishment ruling class.
For example, he’s one of the operatives who was behind the movement to put SQ 820 on a special election date where it was all but guaranteed to fail, and be walloped by angry Oklahoma farmers who think purchasing a mild intoxicant for recreational use should be illegal, while organizing rooster death matches is totally fine…
Yeah, 25% turnout in an election that was heavily skewed by angry conservatives who were motivated to get out and cast a "No" is a "mandate." I’m not saying recreational marijuana would have passed, but the tally would have been a hell of a lot closer if A) it was on a general election ballot and B) our medical program wasn’t already popular and recreational lite.
Anyway, what were we talking about again?
Oh yeah, according to a recent poll, Pat (no relation) claims Oklahomans are overwhelmingly against cockfighting and reducing criminal penalties for those who toss their cocks into the ring.
There are few issues that unite Oklahomans more than their belief that cockfighting should be illegal. Fully 87% say this practice should be illegal while only 8% oppose.
Every major group has at least eight-in-ten wanting cockfighting illegal, including 87% of registered Republicans and 90% of registered Democrats. Additionally, this is not the geographic battle some would lead Oklahomans to believe. While 88% of those in the two metro areas oppose this, we see 87% of those in the 71-rural counties having the same belief. Even in the southeast (86%) and southwest (80%) we have uber-majorities wanting cockfighting to be illegal. In fact, in each of the five congressional districts in Oklahoma, at least 83% want cockfighting to be illegal and in no instance does support for legality exceed 12%.
In a veiled warning to any cock-a-dooddle-doing lawmakers, he also claims a good chunk of wealthy people (a.k.a. donors) are against cockfighting, and even worse, a large majority of voters say they would vote against someone who advocating for reduced cockfighting penalties!
Striking is how united upper-income voters are on this issue. Among the 13% of Oklahoma voters in households earning more than $150,000 a year, 91% think cockfighting should be illegal, 73% oppose changing the penalty to a misdemeanor, and 73% oppose allowing a county option. In addition, the intensity is high with more than half saying their positions in opposition to be “strong”. This means that any political figure could likely use stopping the expansion of cockfighting as a strong fundraising tool.
In analyzing polling issues in Oklahoma since 1990, I have seen only a handful of issues where I see similar numbers to what I see on cockfighting. Not only are the overall numbers against lessening the penalty on cockfighting strong, but voters also say it will affect their votes. Fully 77% of voters say they are at least inclined to vote against anyone advocating for a lower criminal classification for cockfighting while only 11% say they would vote for such a candidate.
That’s nice and everything, but does anyone actually care about what the roosters think about this? Shouldn’t they have a say? I bet if you polled them, about 95% would totally be in favor of cockfighting, since there’s nothing a rooster loves more than killing another cock and then ruling over a harem of hens.
Either way, you have to admit those poll results are pretty convincing, even though they came from an Oklahoma pollster. Oklahomans are good at many things, and producing reliable polling results isn’t one of them.
Although I doubt it will stop yahoo Justin Humphrey and the Derplahoma Caucus from letting up on the issue, I bet it may prevent conservative lawmakers from our state’s more civilized areas from voting to lower cockfighting penalties.
As a result, the sport and industry will simply have to continue to survive and thrive on the underground, with the support, backing, and protection of our law-abiding sheriffs.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
