| Do you favor or oppose the United States Senate passing a resolution censuring President George W. Bush for authorizing wiretaps of Americans within the United States without obtaining court orders? | |||
| 3/15/06 | Favor | Oppose | Undecided |
| All Adults | 46% | 44% | 10% |
| Voters | 48% | 43% | 9% |
| Republicans (33%) | 29% | 57% | 14% |
| Democrats (37%) | 70% | 26% | 4% |
| Independents (30%) | 42% | 47% | 11% |
| Do you favor or oppose the United States House of Representatives voting to impeach President George W. Bush? | |||
| 3/15/06 | Favor | Oppose | Undecided |
| All Adults | 42% | 49% | 9% |
| Voters | 43% | 50% | 7% |
| Republicans (33%) | 18% | 80% | 2% |
| Democrats (37%) | 61% | 30% | 9% |
| Independents (30%) | 47% | 40% | 13% |
So, if we assume that the Independents are a reasonable proxy for undecided swing voters, we can plainly see that a clear plurality oppose censuring the President for illegal wireless wiretapping, and would instead prefer to see him impeached.
Okay, Dems, your lord and master, The Almighty Middle has spoken. Hop to it.
UPDATE: I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out why there's more support for censure than impeachment among Democrats, but the reverse for Independents, and here's what I've come up with:
The Democrats (myself included, to be honest) are wary of impeachment because of the potential for blowback, as happened with Clinton. My theory is that the Independents don't care about that because it's not their party. They want to see Bush nailed to the wall, not just reprimanded.
3 comments:
Yanno, you may just be right.
It's also possible that votes in both Houses (I believe Conyers has a call for investigation into impeachment) in which the Democrats almost unanimously vote in favor of censure and impeachment would send the Republicans scurrying for a change.
Still, I hadn't seen those numbers and your analysis is pretty good.
Diane
Wow. That's an amazing statistic.
Forget the sleep deprivation, I wonder if this is what has the White House all atwitter?
Here's another potential explanation for the discrepancy: Perhaps a high percentage of independents do not understand the relative gravity of censure and impeachment.
I can say that many college students in these post-Clinton days don't think that "impeachment" is that big of a deal: it's just a way Congress has of expressing its disapproval. You get impeached, then you go on about your business.
"Censure," on the other hand, sounds more serious to the unschooled ear. Clinton didn't get censured. In fact, as everyone's no doubt been hearing repeatedly, "No president has been censured since Andrew Jackson." And that was, like, a hundred years ago!
Also, "censure" sounds kinda like "censor," and nobody likes censorship. And if Bush couldn't talk publicly anymore, we wouldn't have all of those funny clips on "The Daily Show."
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