Polls Find Most Americans Still Oppose Impeachment and Now Frown on the G.O.P. nytimes.com
To break briefly from our usual substantive debate, another poll with a somewhat different take. Like computer standards, the nice thing about polls is there's so many to pick and choose from.
"The Republicans don't seem to believe in polls; the only thing they seem to believe in is impeachment," Irene Bump, one of the poll respondents, said in a follow-up interview Monday. Mrs. Bump, a Democrat from Jacksonville, Fla., who is a retired grocery store owner, said, "My mind hasn't changed. The committee didn't handle it at all. It was a one-sided, partisan affair. It was awful. Nobody had a say except the Republicans."
Claire Reiss, 62, a poll respondent from Los Angeles who is an independent, said: "The unfairness of the hearings and the one-sidedness of it, and the self-righteousness of the Republicans, immediately changed my mind to thinking the whole situation was ridiculous." Mrs. Reiss, an engineering surveyor, added, "I'm embarrassed to think how ridiculous our country looks in the eyes of the world."
Oh, but everybody will have a say in the 6 hours the Republicans have allocated for debate on the floor. They have great respect for our Constitution, you know.
"Obviously in a political system there is some risk in doing something that is totally out of favor with the majority of voters," said Robert Teeter, a Republican pollster in Michigan. "The absolute power in this country lies with the voters. But is the Republican Party going to be forever blackballed? I don't view that as a great risk."
Of course, there's quite a difference between 2 years and forever. Apparently, Teeter feels lucky. It'd be nice for Republicans if Clinton went quietly, but why should he? Yes, Nixon did. After the tapes were finally turned over unedited, (which was after the bipartisan House Judiciary vote), Nixon was told he had maybe 100 votes in the House against impeachment. Senate didn't look good, either.
Clinton should do what's good for the country? Just like the adulterous papal knight Hyde has done now, with his current bleating about lying and perjury in stark contrast to his Iran-contra pronouncements? It's all politics. Nobody seems to want to take up the challenge and explain how this "non-partisan, professional" impeachment inquisition is going to get us the "moral leadership" we allegedly crave in the next election.
While Republicans insist they are guided by principle, many politicians and authorities on polling said they had never seen such a situation where members of a party so brazenly resisted the will of the people. Such a move, many said, is fraught with peril.
"The results have been amazingly consistent; these are very solid preferences," said Jon Krosnick, a professor of psychology and political science at Ohio State University. "It is quite surprising to see such a striking movement of the Republicans in Congress going in exactly the opposite direction of what the public seems to want."
Saying it was "tremendously risky" for Republicans to move toward impeachment, Krosnick said: "The Democrats have been enjoying for 30 years the fact that they have not had on their record a Democratic president who was thrown out of office. The attempt here is to balance the scales."
Revenge? My, what an honest Constitutional motive. Unfortunately, there was this non-partisan element to the Nixon hearings that hasn't been much evident in the current inquest. A subtle difference? Certainly for the substantive debate crowd here.
Still, the Republicans' image seems to be suffering the most. Thirty-seven percent of Americans said they think worse of the Republican Party because the votes on the committee to impeach Clinton were all cast by Republicans. In response to another question, 62 percent said Republicans voted to impeach Clinton mostly because they wanted to damage Clinton and the Democrats. Only 29 percent said Republicans voted that way because the charges were warranted.
The survey found that Americans do not like the idea of lawmakers ignoring their objections. Sixty-two percent said in voting on impeachment, members of Congress should pay a lot of attention to what people think.
John Adams, a poll respondent from LaBelle, Fla., put it this way: "One of the Republicans on the committee said that they don't have to do what the public wants, it is what they know is right that matters. I am extremely disgusted by the stance these elected officials have taken." Adams, 58, is an independent who opposes impeachment.
Nah, these people are all confused. What they need is some Christian clarity delivered to them on how filthy their opinion is.
Cheers, Dan. |
