Zogby responds to call for new impeachment poll
Raw Story | September 22 2005
A defiant blogger has taken U.S. pollster John Zogby to task, saying he flip-flopped after stating he would survey the American public again on whether they thought President George W. Bush should be impeached.
Zogby, in turn, told RAW STORY his poll questions are meant to respond to the vagaries of public opinion, not to become part of a “cause celebre.”
Zogby polled Americans in June as to whether they would support impeaching President Bush if it were proved he had misled the nation about his reasons for going to war in Iraq. Forty-two percent said they would support impeaching the president under that condition.
The day the poll was released, Zogby went on MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann. When asked whether he would raise the question again, he said: “We'll test it periodically, probably in a month from now. Again, no-one is really talking about it, but it is a good barometric reading.”
Zogby did not poll on impeachment again.
This has not made Luke Ryland, an Australian based blogger (Wotisitgood4.blogspot.com) who tracks U.S. politics, happy. After no poll on impeachment appeared in successive months, he began corresponding with Zogby’s firm.
“When Zogby says ‘no-one,’ he means that the punditocracy isn't talking about it,” Ryland says. “That is to say, 42 percent of the American people are seriously thinking about the impeachment of the President despite the apparent media lockdown.”
Ryland contacted Zogby in August. He asked when the pollster might raise the question again.
“We'll skip the summer and get back to it in September,” Zogby replied.
Come September, Ryland emailed again. A member of Zogby’s firm replied: “We have decided to not to ask the impeachment question again unless it is raised in Congress.”
Raw Story | September 22 2005
A defiant blogger has taken U.S. pollster John Zogby to task, saying he flip-flopped after stating he would survey the American public again on whether they thought President George W. Bush should be impeached.
Zogby, in turn, told RAW STORY his poll questions are meant to respond to the vagaries of public opinion, not to become part of a “cause celebre.”
Zogby polled Americans in June as to whether they would support impeaching President Bush if it were proved he had misled the nation about his reasons for going to war in Iraq. Forty-two percent said they would support impeaching the president under that condition.
The day the poll was released, Zogby went on MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann. When asked whether he would raise the question again, he said: “We'll test it periodically, probably in a month from now. Again, no-one is really talking about it, but it is a good barometric reading.”
Zogby did not poll on impeachment again.
This has not made Luke Ryland, an Australian based blogger (Wotisitgood4.blogspot.com) who tracks U.S. politics, happy. After no poll on impeachment appeared in successive months, he began corresponding with Zogby’s firm.
“When Zogby says ‘no-one,’ he means that the punditocracy isn't talking about it,” Ryland says. “That is to say, 42 percent of the American people are seriously thinking about the impeachment of the President despite the apparent media lockdown.”
Ryland contacted Zogby in August. He asked when the pollster might raise the question again.
“We'll skip the summer and get back to it in September,” Zogby replied.
Come September, Ryland emailed again. A member of Zogby’s firm replied: “We have decided to not to ask the impeachment question again unless it is raised in Congress.”