celestial_shamanka <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: "celestial_shamanka" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 22:27:35 -0000
Subject: [GMLH] Poll: Americans Want Bush Impeached
Poll: Americans Want Bush Impeached
by David Swanson
Tue Oct 11, 2005 at 02:10:40 PM PDT
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/10/11/171040/56
Poll: Americans Favor Bush's Impeachment If He Lied about Iraq
By a margin of 50% to 44%, Americans want Congress to consider
impeaching President Bush if he lied about the war in Iraq,
according to a new poll commissioned by AfterDowningStreet.org, a
grassroots coalition that supports a Congressional investigation of
President Bush's decision to invade Iraq in 2003.
David Swanson's diary :: ::
The poll was conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs, the highly-regarded
non-partisan polling company. The poll interviewed 1,001 U.S. adults
on October 8-9.
The poll found that 50% agreed with the statement:
"If President Bush did not tell the truth about his reasons for
going to war with Iraq, Congress should consider holding him
accountable by impeaching him."
44% disagreed, and 6% said they didn't know or declined to answer.
The poll has a +/- 3.1% margin of error.
Among those who felt strongly either way, 39% strongly agreed, while
30% strongly disagreed.
"The results of this poll are truly astonishing," said
AfterDowningStreet.org co-founder Bob Fertik. "Bush's record-low
approval ratings tell just half of the story, which is how much
Americans oppose Bush's policies on Iraq and other issues. But this
poll tells the other half of the story - that a solid plurality of
Americans want Congress to consider removing Bush from the White
House."
Impeachment Supported by Majorities of Many Groups
Responses varied by political party affiliation: 72% of Democrats
favored impeachment, compared to 56% of Independents and 20% of
Republicans.
Responses also varied by age and income. Solid majorities of those
under age 55 (54%), as well as those with household incomes below
$50,000 (57%), support impeachment.
Majorities favored impeachment in the Northeast (53%), West (51%),
and even the South (50%).
Support for Impeachment Surged Since June
The Ipsos poll shows a dramatic transformation in support for Bush's
impeachment since late June. (This is only the second poll that has
asked Americans about their support for impeaching Bush in 2005,
despite his record-low approval ratings.) The Zogby poll conducted
June 27-29 of 905 likely voters found that 42% agreed and 50%
disagreed with a statement virtually identical to the one used by
Ipsos Public Affairs. (see footnote below)
Ipsos 10/8-9
Zogby 6/27-29
Net Change
Support Impeachment
50%
42%
+8%
Oppose Impeachment
44%
50%
+6%
Impeachment Margin
+6%
-8%
+14%
After the June poll, pollster John Zogby told the Washington Post
that support for impeachment "was much higher than I expected." At
the time, impeachment supporters trailed opponents by 8%. Now
supporters outnumber opponents by 6%, a remarkable shift of 14%.
Support for Clinton Impeachment Was Much Lower
In August and September of 1998, 16 major polls asked about
impeaching President Clinton (http://democrats.com/clinton-
impeachment-polls). Only 36% supported hearings to consider
impeachment, and only 26% supported actual impeachment and removal.
Even so, the impeachment debate dominated the news for months, and
the Republican Congress impeached Clinton despite overwhelming
public opposition.
Impeachment Support is Closely Related to Belief that Bush Lied
about Iraq
Both the Ipsos and Zogby polls asked about support for impeachment
if Bush lied about the reasons for war, rather than asking simply
about support for impeachment. Pollsters predict that asking simply
about impeachment without any context would produce a large number
of "I don't know" responses. However, this may understate the
percentage of Americans who favor Bush's impeachment for other
reasons, such as his slow response to Hurricane Katrina, his policy
on torture, soaring gasoline prices, or other concerns.
Other polls show a majority of U.S. adults believe that Bush did in
fact lie about the reasons for war. A June 23-26 ABC/Washington Post
poll found 52% of Americans believe the Bush
administration "deliberately misled the public before the war," and
57% say the Bush administration "intentionally exaggerated its
evidence that pre-war Iraq possessed nuclear, chemical or biological
weapons."
Support for the war has dropped significantly since June, which
suggests that the percentage of Americans who believe Bush lied
about the war has increased.
Passion for Impeachment is Major Unreported Story
The strong support for impeachment found in this poll is especially
surprising because the views of impeachment supporters are entirely
absent from the broadcast and print media, and can only be found on
the Internet and in street protests, including the large anti-war
rally in Washington on September 24.
The lack of coverage of impeachment support is due in part to the
fact that not a single Democrat in Congress has called for
impeachment, despite considerable grassroots activism by groups like
Democrats.com (http://democrats.com/impeach).
"We will, no doubt, see an increase in activism following this
poll," said David Swanson, co-founder of
AfterDowningStreet.org. "But will we see an increase in media
coverage? The media are waiting for action in Congress. Apparently
it's easier to find and interview one of the 535 members of Congress
than it is to locate a representative of the half of the country
that wants the President impeached if he lied about the war. The
media already accepts that Bush did lie about the war. We know this
because so many editors and pundits told us that the Downing Street
Memo was 'old news.' What we need now is journalism befitting a
democracy, journalism that goes out and asks people what they really
think about their government, especially George Bush."
The passion of impeachment supporters is directly responsible for
the new poll commissioned by AfterDowningStreet. After the Zogby
poll in June, activists led by Democrats.com urged all of the major
polling organizations to include an impeachment question in their
upcoming polls. But none of the polling organizations were willing
to do so for free, so on September 30, AfterDowningStreet.org posted
a request for donations to fund paid polls
(http://afterdowningstreet.org/polling). As of October 10, 330
individuals had contributed $8,919 in small donations averaging $27
each.
AfterDowningStreet.org has commissioned a second poll which is
expected soon, and will continue to urge all polling organizations
to include the impeachment question in their regular polls. If they
do not, AfterDowningStreet.org will continue to commission regular
impeachment polls.
Footnotes:
1. AfterDowningStreet.org is a rapidly growing coalition of
veterans' groups, peace groups, and political activist groups that
was created on May 26, 2005, following the publication of the
Downing Street Memos in London's Sunday Times on May 1. The
coalition is urging Congress to begin a formal investigation into
whether President Bush committed impeachable offenses in connection
with the Iraq war.
2.Here are the complete tables from the Ipsos Public Affairs poll,
plus the definitions of regions used by Ipsos and the U.S. Census
Bureau.
3. Zogby asked: "If President Bush did not tell the truth about his
reasons for going to war with Iraq, Congress should consider holding
him accountable <strike>by impeaching him</strike> through
impeachment."
4. Pollsters have offered various reasons for refusing to poll on
impeachment. For example, Gallup said it would do so "if, and when,
there is some discussion of that possibility by congressional
leaders, and/or if commentators begin discussing it in the news
media."
Tags: Poll, Impeachment, George W. Bush, Bush, The Presidency, Polls
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