Gold9472
10-04-2005, 12:05 PM
After pollsters say they won't raise impeachment, group to pay for poll
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/After_pollsters_say_they_wont_raise_1004.html
10/4/2005
The group of activists who pushed for an inquiry into the Downing Street documents has raised $6,300 to pay pollsters to raise a question on impeaching President Bush, RAW STORY has learned.
Pollster John Zogby, who found that 42 percent of Americans would support impeaching the President were it proven he did not tell the truth about his reasons for going to go to war in Iraq, recently told RAW STORY he did not plan future polls.
Zogby said he felt pollsters should be a barometer of public opinion, and shouldn't poll on issues that aren't currently on the political agenda. He did, however, say he would consider doing the poll if he were paid.
David Swanson, who is leading the charge, says an impeachment poll shouldn't been dependent on action in Congress.
"We don't believe that the media's agenda should be completely controlled by Congress," Swanson said. "In this case, the media (specifically the polling arm of the media) is ignoring impeachment and claiming to be doing so because there is no action in Congress, even from progressives. That's true. There isn't."
"But if Congress is failing to represent the public's concerns, and our public discourse is determined by that failure, then majority opinions can be marginalized," he added.
Zogby told RAW STORY last month he opted not to poll on impeachment again after the Downing Street documents lost traction. The documents showed that the Bush and Blair Administrations were aggressively pursuing their case for war despite knowing there was scant evidence of Iraq weapons programs. In one document, the chief of British intelligence is quoted as saying that officials were trying to “fix” intelligence to fit the policy.
“What happened officially was nothing,” Zogby said. “There was no movement -- at least no credible movement -- pushing for impeachment, and secondly, I did not intend or never intend as a pollster to part of a cause celebre.
“In that sense I opted to not ask it because it's not on the official radar screen and I want to ensure that I’m not used by either side,” he added.
Swanson says the group intends to pay for the poll themselves.
"We're going to ask a number of mainstream pollsters," he said. "We'll certainly ask about impeachment, and possibly about favored reasons for impeachment, and possibly about some approaches other than impeachment to holding accountable those responsible for the war."
Other polling agencies, such as Gallup, have also refused to do impeachment polls. Gallup's editor in chief Frank Newport defended their decision.
"Gallup (and other polling firms) began asking about the possible impeachment of Clinton in January 1998, shortly after the stories were published about allegations of his having had an affair with an intern," Newport wrote. "There is no record of the precise rationale that Gallup editors used at the time for asking those questions. But the general procedure Gallup uses to determine what to ask about in our surveys is to measure the issues and concerns that are being discussed in the public domain."
"We will certainly ask Americans about their views on impeaching George W. Bush if, and when, there is some discussion of that possibility by congressional leaders, and/or if commentators begin discussing it in the news media," he added. "That has not happened to date."
Swanson says pollsters already influence public opinion simply by virtue of polling -- which he says renders their reasoning moot.
"You can't tell everyone that so-and-so is the leading candidate without having millions of people who want to vote for a winner and a "viable" leader switch their votes to that person," he remarked. "So, Zogby is right. You can't measure the demand for impeachment and talk about it without having more people support it. But that's true of any poll he does on anything, and he should drop the pretense that this is a concern only when the poll is about an issue those in power don't like."
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/After_pollsters_say_they_wont_raise_1004.html
10/4/2005
The group of activists who pushed for an inquiry into the Downing Street documents has raised $6,300 to pay pollsters to raise a question on impeaching President Bush, RAW STORY has learned.
Pollster John Zogby, who found that 42 percent of Americans would support impeaching the President were it proven he did not tell the truth about his reasons for going to go to war in Iraq, recently told RAW STORY he did not plan future polls.
Zogby said he felt pollsters should be a barometer of public opinion, and shouldn't poll on issues that aren't currently on the political agenda. He did, however, say he would consider doing the poll if he were paid.
David Swanson, who is leading the charge, says an impeachment poll shouldn't been dependent on action in Congress.
"We don't believe that the media's agenda should be completely controlled by Congress," Swanson said. "In this case, the media (specifically the polling arm of the media) is ignoring impeachment and claiming to be doing so because there is no action in Congress, even from progressives. That's true. There isn't."
"But if Congress is failing to represent the public's concerns, and our public discourse is determined by that failure, then majority opinions can be marginalized," he added.
Zogby told RAW STORY last month he opted not to poll on impeachment again after the Downing Street documents lost traction. The documents showed that the Bush and Blair Administrations were aggressively pursuing their case for war despite knowing there was scant evidence of Iraq weapons programs. In one document, the chief of British intelligence is quoted as saying that officials were trying to “fix” intelligence to fit the policy.
“What happened officially was nothing,” Zogby said. “There was no movement -- at least no credible movement -- pushing for impeachment, and secondly, I did not intend or never intend as a pollster to part of a cause celebre.
“In that sense I opted to not ask it because it's not on the official radar screen and I want to ensure that I’m not used by either side,” he added.
Swanson says the group intends to pay for the poll themselves.
"We're going to ask a number of mainstream pollsters," he said. "We'll certainly ask about impeachment, and possibly about favored reasons for impeachment, and possibly about some approaches other than impeachment to holding accountable those responsible for the war."
Other polling agencies, such as Gallup, have also refused to do impeachment polls. Gallup's editor in chief Frank Newport defended their decision.
"Gallup (and other polling firms) began asking about the possible impeachment of Clinton in January 1998, shortly after the stories were published about allegations of his having had an affair with an intern," Newport wrote. "There is no record of the precise rationale that Gallup editors used at the time for asking those questions. But the general procedure Gallup uses to determine what to ask about in our surveys is to measure the issues and concerns that are being discussed in the public domain."
"We will certainly ask Americans about their views on impeaching George W. Bush if, and when, there is some discussion of that possibility by congressional leaders, and/or if commentators begin discussing it in the news media," he added. "That has not happened to date."
Swanson says pollsters already influence public opinion simply by virtue of polling -- which he says renders their reasoning moot.
"You can't tell everyone that so-and-so is the leading candidate without having millions of people who want to vote for a winner and a "viable" leader switch their votes to that person," he remarked. "So, Zogby is right. You can't measure the demand for impeachment and talk about it without having more people support it. But that's true of any poll he does on anything, and he should drop the pretense that this is a concern only when the poll is about an issue those in power don't like."