By David Swanson
A new poll conducted in Pennsylvania (a battleground “purple” state) by Zogby International and commissioned by OpEdNews.com found that 84.9 percent of Democrats said they would be likely to vote for a congressional candidate who “supports having impeachment proceedings against President Bush.” Only 7.0 percent said they were not likely to vote for such a candidate.
These questions were included in a poll asking about senatorial candidates in Pennsylvania. The complete results are available at www.opednews.com
The results were even stronger when people were asked “How likely would you be to vote for a candidate who supports a recommendation of impeachment against President Bush if he is found guilty of violating the law?” Among Democrats, 90.8 percent responded either “very likely” or “somewhat likely” (85.2 percent very likely).
Among Republicans, 90.4 percent said they were not likely to vote for a pro-impeachment candidate, and 80.5 percent said they were not likely to back even a supporter of impeaching a convicted violator of the law.
Independents leaned toward electing an impeacher, with 49.3 percent likely and 40.6 percent not likely to vote for a pro-impeachment candidate. If the candidate only wants to impeach a lawbreaker, 60.6 percent of Independents are likely and 36.7 percent not likely to vote for that candidate.
Overall, 47.6 percent of poll respondents said they would be likely to support a pro-impeachment candidate, while 46.2 percent said they would not be likely to. Overall, 53.5 percent said they would be likely to support a candidate who favored impeachment of Bush if he were found guilty of violating the law, while 41.8 percent said they would not be likely to.
A separate question in the poll found that 51.1 percent of Pennsylvanians believe Bush broke the law by spying on Americans without a court order, while 42 percent do not.
People were also asked their own opinions about impeachment, apart from the question of candidates’ platforms. Overall, 53.7 percent of Pennsylvanians said that Bush should be impeached if found guilty of violating the law against wiretapping American citizens, while 42.5 percent disagreed. Among Democrats, 88.9 percent favored impeachment, while 8.4 percent did not.
These numbers show slightly higher support for impeachment, compared to a national poll conducted by Zogby on January 9-12.
See: www.afterdowningstreet.org/polling
The complete results of the Pennsylvania poll are available at www.opednews.com