>this sounds like it was done exclusively on a couple of blocks in
>Berkeley, but what the hell...
>fs
>
>May 11, 2004
>For Immediate Release
>
>Findings from a new national poll show support for impeachment, growing
>opposition to war on terrorism.
>
>Berkeley--Reporting from an ongoing survey of public knowledge and
>opinion, Berkeley based NGO Retro Poll released startling results
>suggesting that 39% of Americans favor impeachment of President Bush.
>The poll, taken between April 19 and May 5 asked whether people believe
>that misleading Congress and the Public on weapons of mass destruction
>to take the country to war is grounds to impeach the President (39% said
>yes, 40% said no).
Once again, they're being tendentious. The question was <http://www.retropoll.org/answers_poll_04.htm>:
>26. President Bush misled the public and Congress by saying that
>Saddam's Iraq was an imminent threat to launch chemical, biological,
>and nuclear warfare against us. Do you think that misleading the
>public and Congress in this way in order to take the country to war
>is grounds for impeachment? (y/ n/ d)
The poll never asks the direct question, "Do you think Pres Bush should be impeached?" As anyone who knows anything about polls knows, wording matters a lot. I suspect you'd get a much lower yes answer on the direct question.
The question is also prefaced by a lot of factual questions on Iraq, the Patriot Act, and SUVs. That also stacks the results, since it puts respondents into a certain frame of mind before they're asked this question. It'd be an interesting experiment to see how answers would differ based on whether the factual questions were asked or not, or if a different set of questions were asked. But they don't do that. This is a poll designed to evoke a certain set of responses. If the right did something like this, we'd be denouncing it as Murdochian.
I had a spirited exchange with the RetroPoll's director, Marc Sapir, over their last iteration of the poll. I even got him to join AAPOR and have it out with the pros. But it obviously had no effect. I'm going to have to have a return engagement.
Doug