Home > New Poll: Majority of Americans Support Impeachment
New Poll: Majority of Americans Support Impeachment
by Open-Publishing - Thursday 22 December 20053 comments
Wars and conflicts International Governments USA
Flashback from Nov 4
By a margin of 53% to 42%, Americans want Congress to impeach
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.
The poll was conducted by Zogby International, the highly-regarded
non-partisan polling company. The poll interviewed 1,200 U.S. adults
from October 29 through November 2.
The poll found that 53% 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 through
impeachment."
42% disagreed, and 5% said they didn’t know or declined to answer. The poll has a +/- 2.9% margin of error.
"These results are stunning," said AfterDowningStreet.org co-founder
Bob Fertik. "A clear majority of Americans now supports President
Bush’s impeachment if he lied about the war. This should send shock
waves through the White House - and a wake-up call to Democrats and
Republicans in Congress, who have sole power under the Constitution to
impeach President Bush."
ImpeachPAC is Launched
In response to the latest poll results, Bob Fertik, president of
Democrats.com, announced today the creation of a new political action
committee called ImpeachPAC, headquartered at ImpeachPAC.org.
ImpeachPAC will support Democratic candidates who support the immediate
and simultaneous impeachment of George Bush and Dick Cheney for lying
about Iraq. ImpeachPAC set a goal of raising $100,000 over the Internet
to prove to President Bush, Congress, and the media that there is
intense grassroots support for impeachment, as reflected in the new
Zogby poll.
Impeachment Supported by Majorities of Many Groups
Responses
to the Zogby poll varied by political party affiliation: 76% of
Democrats favored impeachment, compared to 50% of Independents and 29%
of Republicans.
Responses also varied by age, sex, race, and religion. 70% of those
18-29 favored impeachment, 51% of those 31-49, 50% of those 50-64, and
42% of those over 65. 56% of women favored impeachment, compared to 49%
of men. Among African Americans, 90% favored impeachment, compared to
67% of Hispanics, and 46% of whites. Majorities of Catholics, Jews,
Muslims, and Others favored impeachment, while 49% of Protestants and
46% of Born Again Christians did so.
Majorities favored impeachment in the East (53%), West (56%), and
Central states (58%), but not the South (43%). In large cities, 58%
support impeachment; in small cities, 56%; in suburbs, 49%; in rural
areas, 46%.
Support for Impeachment Has Surged Since June
The
new Zogby poll shows a dramatic transformation in support for Bush’s
impeachment since late June. (This is only the third 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 the
identical statement asked about in this recent polling. This question
was virtually identical to one used in early October by Ipsos Public
Affairs, which found that 50% agreed and 44% disagreed that Congress
should consider impeaching Bush if he did not tell the truth about his
reasons for war.
|
| Zogby 10/29-11/2 | Ipsos 10/8-9 | Zogby (LV) 6/27-29 | Net Change Jun-Nov |
| Support Impeachment | 53% | 50% | 42% | +11% |
| Oppose Impeachment | 42% | 44% | 50% | -8% |
| Impeachment Margin | +11% | +6% | -8% | +19% |
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 11%, a remarkable shift of 19%.
If impeachment support continues to grow by 3% each month, it will reach 60% in January, 65% in March, and 70% in April.
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
The Zogby and Ipsos 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 those who support
Bush’s impeachment for other reasons, such as his actions before and
immediately after Hurricane Katrina, his negligence prior to 9-11, his
use of torture, and the CIA outing scandal.
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. 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).
The passion of impeachment supporters is directly responsible for
the new poll commissioned by After Downing Street. 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).
People responded with small donations (on average $27) which quickly
added up to over $10,000. After Downing Street has spent a portion of
that money on the Ipsos Poll and the new Zogby Poll.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/4421
Forum posts
23 December 2005, 00:46
Keep up the great work David
here is a little gem that msnbc decided should no longer be accessible from the main page due to overwhelming numbers for impeachment:
msnbc impeachment poll
23 December 2005, 16:22
Great work, David. Loved the graphics, especially the projection chart. Way cool. I say we keep Bush in office until the midterm elections so the Dems can take back both the House and Senate. The Republicans up for re-election are trying to distance themselves already.
IMPEACHPAC is my kind of political action. You’re probably going to raise a lot more than just $100,000.
27 December 2005, 23:59
A New Year and new chance to restore America. To save our democracy, we need to get rid of the Patriot Act, all the administration in Washington, impeach Bush and Cheyney as he is the puppeteer master alone with Bush. remove corrupt Congressmen and install people that consider the good of the whole nation, not just special interest. Hike and install a fair tax. Never let a cabal start a war by misleading Congress again. Demand thought and that war be last resource not just a chance to say we are so great. Restore humility, remove arrogance. End the war and tax cuts for rich and waste. Use the money to try to save our country by reducing deficits, fix social security, a workfare system instead of welfare fraud. Help the weak, not yhe irresponsible. Subsidize labor, open our factories again, raise minimum wage, make the wto and nafta fair and for benefit of people, not corporations. Corporations should be allowed to make fair profit but not be cruel, corrupt, greedy and crooked. They should treat workers fairly all over world. Treat workers with respect and fairness. Our gov should find a balance between socialism and capitalism and put religion back where our founding fathers meant it to be, between God and each person. Time for universal health care. Cheaper for governent and people that way. Health care should be for people, not for benefit of insurance and drug companies. We don’t need religious zealots here or abroad to dictate and mind others people’s personal lives. Put them back in churches and remind them their job is to help people, not dictate to them. We need to provide basic services, and have auniversal health care that is rationed and realistic. We should not have to pay for medical coverage for people who rush to doctor if they sneeze or have an achy back, or for phony parts, or pretty faces unless they are scarred and injured. We should use the money wisely for the really sick and those who really need it. Should use high cost testing only when absolutely necessary not just as a precaution to make the owners of expensive medical equipment rich and relieve hypochondria. We should have a basic services health care separate from emergency rooms. We need to start thinking -plan and be realisstic. Money should be used for the young. soldiers, and people who have a life ahead , not to prolong agony and life for the old. If we haven’t had a life by 80 it is hopeless anyway. Individual should be helped and permitted to die with dignity if they like and not have to rob and ruin the lives of our children. Besides heaven is suppose to be super. Somethings can’t be fixed and death is inevitable. Be realistic about health care and use it wisely. Restore tax cuts to the rate before Bush or even raise taxes - to be strong America needs to get out of debt and not be indebted to foreign nations. Rich kids need the same opportunities as their parents to be creative and make it on their own. Makes them more caring, more sane and happier. Restore sanity and mercy to this country. Greed has flouished too long. People need to provide kids with food, education, health care, not Xboxes and playstations. Time we moved to 21st century from the 18th and kids went to school eight hours a day and year around. In the 18th century we lived in a rural world where kids worked on farm and carried in wood, milked cows etc. Now they are tyrants because they feel useless. Make them useful. Increase school hours, physical activity, charaity work and help parents who are overburdened. In afamily everyone should share burden, not just parents. Turn kids back into assets, from liabilities and restore roll of parents. Let’s become great again and restore the dignity of hard work , manners, courtesty, thoughtfulness, caring and fairness and common sense. End the war in Iraq and help the people in Irag, New Orleans, Pakistan and all over the world. As long as there are hungry, sick people in world, how can anyone be happy with more than they need and feel they are Christians. Let Christians be like Christ. Feed and care for others. Our goal should be to help people not kill them and to leave them along to decide about their governments, not kill them to make them free. Hep them to be free to acquire basic needs, food, clothing, shelter and health care. Help them to have dignity in their peronal lives, their religion. Capitalism has run wild and needs to be controlled. It is soon to be a New Year, but let us all work to make it the old America that was a beacon to the world, not a warmonger. Let us help others, not judge them. If we can’t help , let us at least mind our own business. That is my plea for America. God bless America and please install a wise leader. Vote- call your congressmen, stand up and be heard. Help your neighbor that is out of work. This is suppose to be a people for and by the people. People speak but more help- that is the way to peace and happiness.