Saturday, August 27, 2005

A Second Vote



We’re halfway through the first round of voting for Greatest Prime Minister. With over 1,000 votes in, the Trudeau/Clark and Borden/Pearson matchups are virtual dead heats while King, MacDonald, Laurier, Chretien, Mulroney, and Diefenbaker are poised to advance to the second round. Since I’m only allowing one vote per computer, I decided to give everyone a chance to vote a second time. So the first poll has been locked (you can see the results here) and an identical poll will appear lower in this post. This Tuesday at noon MST, I’ll close this poll and add the results of the two together. This pattern will continue in subsequent rounds.

So if you’ve had a change of heart and feel bad for Kim Campbell’s 7%, this is your chance to change your vote. If you’re determined to bounce Trudeau, or push him to the second round, this is your chance for that as well. And if you’d like to read up a little more on some of the contestants, I’ve put up a post on the Borden/Pearson matchup here.








Greatest Prime Minister (Round 1...second chance)



  (1) Mackenzie King
  (16) John Turner




  (2) John A. MacDonald
  (15) Kim Campbell




  (3) Pierre Trudeau
  (14) Joe Clark




  (4) Wilfrid Laurier
  (13) Arthur Meighen




  (5) Jean Chretien
  (12) Paul Martin Jr.




  (6) Robert Borden
  (11) Lester B. Pearson




  (7) Brian Mulroney
  (10) RB Bennett




  (8) Louis St. Laurent
  (9) John Diefenbaker







21 Comments:

  • It's too bad the right whingers are trying to piss all over your hard work.

    By Blogger Robert McClelland, at 2:16 p.m.  

  • "It's too bad the right whingers are trying to piss all over your hard work."

    By getting out the vote? The only thing lamer than concerted efforts to stack an online poll is griping about it.

    Matt

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:00 p.m.  

  • I have absolutely no problem with the "vote out Trudeau" movement. It's a fun little poll that doesn't pretend to be the definitive word on greatness. It's made it a lot more interesting for me...the fact that it's Joe Clark they're getting behind is somewhat bizarre but, hey, go for it.

    By Blogger calgarygrit, at 3:15 p.m.  

  • Grit,

    Here's a comment that was left on my blog re: this poll...

    ---
    The problem I have is in how to define "great". Great: as in famous. Great: as in influential. Great: as in character. Great: as in accomplishments. Great: as is good legacy. Great: as in bad legacy. Great: as in bed?????

    Trudeau was great; a great communist, a great economic socialist, a great debt builder, a great statist builder... but he was also great as in famous, well known, well loved, well hated, and very very very intelligent. See, I'm torn.
    ---

    Debris Trail was the author.

    By Blogger Andrew, at 3:20 p.m.  

  • Andrew; I think no matter what term you use, it'll be kind of vague. "Best PM"? Once again, "best" at what?

    I figure everyone can pick their own definition of "great" and run with it. I'd personally be tempted to vote for a PM who did nothing over Mulroney because I think he was a net negative on the country so if someone thinks PET was so terrible that a guy who did nothing was "greater", then that's fair enough.

    By Blogger calgarygrit, at 4:19 p.m.  

  • But what's really important: was Muloroney worse than Bennett?

    By Blogger bgilliard, at 10:47 p.m.  

  • It really doesn't actually matter, since it's just an online poll on a blog...

    But honest to goodness, I just can't believe that there are really people out there whose pathological hatred for Pierre Trudeau goes so deep that they are willing to organize a concerted "get out the vote" effort to try and skew the results like this.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:07 a.m.  

  • Just like a Grit - if you don't like the results of one vote, you find a way to have a 'do-over' until you get the result you like . . .

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:41 a.m.  

  • For what it's worth, I voted for Trudeau in both. But if one views his time as being actively harmful, it makes a lot of sense to vote for the non-entity that was Joe Clark's time as PM.

    You know, "first, do no harm..." :-)

    By Blogger The Tiger, at 10:17 a.m.  

  • This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    By Blogger eastern capitalist, at 11:28 a.m.  

  • Re: ottawacon

    I'm not saying the opinion that Trudeau was the worst PM ever is not a valid one. I find it to be extremely uninformed, but in a free country people are entitled to believe whatever falsehood they wish.

    But to organize a voting drive against the man for an ONLINE POLL that only political junkies are going to see the results of, and thus know that they are incorrect (heck, even the apolitical among us would realize that something is wrong there) is beyond sad, and speaks to an incredible pettiness that I just have a difficult time understanding.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:13 p.m.  

  • To expound, if it was Trudeau VS King, or Trudeau VS Macdonald, or Trudeau VS Pearson, or heck even Trudeau VS Mulroney, then I could see him possibly losing. There is a very convincing argument to be made for any of those men against him.

    But COME ON, Trudeau VS CLARK? It's just an exercise in absurdity to say that Clark was the better PM when he only had the job for 9 months and is mostly remembered for losing his first and only budget vote.

    If you guys had waited even one more round to pull this little stunt, he would have been up against Borden or Pearson. At least then a legitimate argument could have been made for one of them, if not against Trudeau, since they are both generally regarded as very successful prime ministers in their own rights.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:19 p.m.  

  • Trudeau VS CLARK? That's like trying to decide whether you would rather your car was stolen or just completely trashed in a bad accident. How do you pick??

    The poll is fun - Calgary Grit, I even find the rivalry between the left and right kind of fun.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:31 p.m.  

  • If you guys really want us to vote for Trudeau, you should set up a "crappiest PM" contest.

    By Blogger Michael Fox, at 4:58 p.m.  

  • What's the problem?

    I've *met* Trudeau on several occasions, and was fairly unimpressed, even as a Liberal from a family of Liberals. But remember, this is a pairwise slection process, not an overall one. Was Trudeau the best PM ever? Who cares? The question, in this first round of voting, is "Was Trudeau better than Joe Clark"?

    The answer to that one, IMNSHO, is "yes." Trudeau should (and probably will) get his comeuppance in the second or subsequent rounds of voting, when a new set of pairwise comparisons are created...

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:48 p.m.  

  • As a Westerner whos' extended family suffered in various ways from Trudeau's policies, I'll take any and every opportunity to get the least little bit of cheap revenge

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:52 p.m.  

  • So you didn't like that PET was bounced from in the first round, and now you're having a second poll to see if you can budge his numbers up a little bit? Why didn't you say you were going to do this in the first place?

    Why bother taking this poll at all, if you have already predetermined who you think the winners should be and are simply going to re-take the poll until you get the numbers you want?

    By Blogger Ed, at 8:59 p.m.  

  • By Blogger zzyytt, at 12:24 a.m.  

  • By Blogger 5689, at 9:55 p.m.  

  • By Blogger yanmaneee, at 10:06 p.m.  

  • By Blogger Rohim Sorkar, at 5:36 a.m.  

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