The right wing, led by the always reliable Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Glenn Beck, is in a panic about a supposed plot to replace the dollar with a “One World currency.” Repeating its pattern of echoing conservative memes, Rasmussen polled on the issue, and — unsurprisingly — found that most Americans favor keeping the dollar:
Eighty-eight percent (88%) of Americans say it is important for the dollar to remain the currency of the United States, including 70% who say it is Very Important.
Only three percent (3%) say it is not at all important if the dollar remains America’s currency, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
All four of Rasmussen’s questions asserted that a proposal exists to create a “new global currency” that will “replace the dollar,” asking how important it is “that the dollar remain the currency of the United States.” However, in its own write up of the poll, Rasmussen admits that “the issue” is not about replacing Americans’ dollar bills but rather with moving to a new standard for the global currency reserves:
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner generated concern in Washington when he seemed willing to consider a proposal for replacing the dollar, then later backtracked on it. At issue is not replacing the money in Americans’ wallets but what currency will be the world standard against which all other monies are measured.
Indeed, there is no plan — and no suggestion of a plan — to create a global currency. The fact that Rasmussen even polled on Bachmann’s insane legislation banning the replacement of the dollar with a fictional currency shows just how unconcerned Rasmussen is with truth, accuracy, or intellectual honesty.
Update
TalkingPointsMemo asked pollster Scott Rasmussen why his questions didn’t clarify that a “global currency” was not a real possibility: “I was really curious where the suspicion level was going to be on this particular question,’ said Rasmussen, noting that this is a story that hasn’t been discussed or explained very much, and where public opinion is very fluid.”
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