Americans overwhelmingly feel that it was unacceptable for John McCain to play on his iPhone during a Senate hearing on Syria, something that hasn't improved his favorability ratings.
John McCain was recently caught covertly playing a game of poker on his iPhone during a recent Senate hearing on the possibility of launching airstrikes on the Syrian government after it allegedly used chemical weapons against its own people. McCain admitted that he had been caught red handed in a tweet that read 'Scandal!Caught playing iPhone game at 3+ hour Senate hearing - worst of all I lost!'.
The latest research from YouGov shows that while the political world may be treating the incident as a joke it's no laughing matter for the American public. 47% of the public think that it was 'completely unacceptable' that he was playing poker during the meeting, while another 30% say that it was 'unacceptable, but not a big deal'. 16% had no opinion either way while 7% said that it was acceptable. Attitudes towards McCain playing poker in the meeting were remarkably bipartisan, with Republicans being only marginally more likely to say that his actions weren't unacceptable.
The move hasn't helped his falling favorability ratings. According to YouGov research from January, McCain's favorability ratings have fallen from 41% to 33% today. His unfavorability ratings have increased from 48% to 55%. Today, Democrats are largely hostile to McCain (60% unfavorable, 32% favorable) while Republicans are nearly evenly split on John McCain, with 49% having a favorable opinion and 44% an unfavorable opinion.
When asked whether they had also acted like John McCain and played games in meetings or in class, 10% of Americans confessed that they had engaged in similar behavior. Unsurprisingly, this was highest among 18-29s (18%) and lowest among 65+s (2%). When asked whether they had been tempted by any other superfluous activities, doodling came out on top with 46% of Americans saying that they had doodled in class or in a meeting.
