Guardian, on a poll showing two-thirds of Americans „oppose“ the administration separating immigrant children from their parents:
Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac poll, asked: “When does public opinion become a demand that politicians just can’t ignore? Two-thirds of American voters oppose the family separation policy at our borders. Neither quotes from the Bible nor get-tough talk can soften the images of crying children nor reverse the pain so many Americans feel.”
I read this as suggesting Malloy thinks there is a polling number above which „politicians“ as a class somehow apart from other Americans respond: politicians can ignore 67% opposition, but 80% magically causes engagement. This interpretation of „oppose“ as „disapprove of“ reflects to me American self-definition as passive viewers of media, seduced into thinking their responses on a survey connotes meaningful political engagement.
Another approach is to ask when public opinion stops being opinion, and becomes demand:
- „You must stop separating children from parents because we are here now sitting in the doorways of this detention facility, and we will block the functioning of this place until you return those children to their parents.“
At this point American opposition to the administration seems on the level of saying they are unhappy when a polling representative asks them about their internal state. This is not a demand.
