On 18 December 2015, Public Policy Polling (PPP) released a new poll concerning presidential candidates and their supporters. While the poll sought to ascertain the public's opinion in matters such as gun control, immigration, and the minimum wage, the media was more concerned with an odd question about the fictional city of Agrabah from the animated movie Aladdin: "Would you support or oppose bombing Agrabah?"
PPP found that 30% of Republicans were in favor of bombing the fictional city, while 13% were opposed. Donald Trump had the largest percentage of supporters in favor of bombing Agrabah (41% for and 9% against) while only 11% of John Kasich fans supported the idea:
These results were widely mocked in an online meme:
Although several publications used PPP's data to paint Republicans in a negative light, the above-displayed data did not illuminate the entire picture. For instance, when PPP posed the same question to Democratic voters, 19% of them also supported bombing Aladdin's hometown:
The numbers got even murkier when data for voters who consider themselves liberals or conservatives was examined. About 50% of Republicans who identified as "somewhat liberal" said that they were in favor of bombing of Agrabah, but only 25% of Republicans who identified as "somewhat conservative" said the same:
For Democrats, 24% of those who identified as "moderate" were in favor of Agrabah's destruction:
So what can we learn from these numbers? Nothing, really. Perhaps 31% of Republican voters don't want to see Jafar in power. Perhaps 19% of Democrats are anti-genie. Perhaps many Americans need to brush up on their geography and/or Disney trivia.
Or perhaps PPP inserted a funny question into their poll to amuse themselves.
The full Public Policy Poll can be viewed here.