http://www.democrats.com/clinton-impeachment-polls
Today, Rasmussen Reports, an organization that consistently places President George Bush's approval rating higher than do most other polling companies, will release the first ever poll on the public's support for impeaching Bush and removing him from office. Rasmussen found that 32 percent of American adults want Bush impeached and removed from office, while 35 percent want Vice President Dick Cheney impeached and removed from office.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/
Average support for holding hearings to impeach Clinton (but not necessarily for removing him from office) was 36 percent, 10 points higher than support for removing him from office.
Recent polls have suggested that support for impeaching Bush may be higher than that. Most recently, in a poll conducted October 29 through November 2, Zogby international found that, by a margin of 53% to 42%, Americans want Congress to impeach President Bush if he lied about the war in Iraq. Numerous polls have found that a strong majority of Americans believe that Bush did lie about the war in Iraq.
The new Rasmussen poll did not mention the war, and asked 1,000 adults if they supported both impeachment and removal from office. The support of 32 percent for removing Bush from office, and 35 percent for Cheney, should also be put into the context of Rasmussen's other results. In the same poll, Rasmussen finds Bush's job approval rating to be higher than any other polling company has found in recent days or weeks (and 3 points higher than the rating Rasmussen posted on its own website today), and places his approval among African Americans over twice as high as most pollsters. For information on Rasmussen's consistently higher ratings for Bush, see:
http://www.mysterypollster.com/photos/uncategorized/franklinrasmussen.jpg
and
http://www.mysterypollster.com/main/2005/12/more_on_rasmuss.html
For a Pew survey finding blacks' approval of Bush at about 1/3 of what Rasmussen finds, see:
http://people-press.org/reports/tables/259.pdf
A high percentage of respondents said they were "not sure" whether or not they wanted Bush or Cheney impeached and removed, which could reflect the lack of coverage of this topic in the media. Perhaps this poll will change that. With nearly a third of the country wanting Bush impeached and removed from office, we have as much grounds for coverage by the media as there is for coverage of immediate withdrawal from Iraq.
Here are the complete results of the Rasmussen poll in an Excel file:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/downloads/rasmussen.xls
NATIONAL SURVEY of 1,000 LIKELY VOTERS
December 9 - 10, 2005
1* How would you rate the job George W. Bush has been doing as President" do you strongly approve, somewhat approve, somewhat disapprove, or strongly disapprove of the job he's been doing?
23% strongly approve
24% somewhat approve
14% somewhat disapprove
38% strongly disapprove
1% not sure
2* Should President Bush be impeached and removed from office?
32% yes
56% no
12% not sure
3* Should Vice President Cheney be impeached and removed from office?
35% yes
53% no
12% not sure
4* Suppose a candidate for Congress announces that, if elected, he or she will work to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Knowing this, would you be more or less likely to vote for that candidate?
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