NY Times/ CBS Poll Analysis: Only 15% Support Action Against Iran, Cheney Postiives at Record Low
By Rob Kall
Dems way ahead of Republicans for 2008 Prez race, republicans thought corrupt by three times as many...
Analysis and interpretation by OpEdNews
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There's a new March 7-11, 2007 NY Times/ CBS News poll. They've provided some of the basic stats so I've dug in to find some of the interesting findings, some of which, are not being reported in the 15 second sound bytes.
The poll was based on responses from 1,362 respondents, 698 of them Republican, 52% of them women.
Support for action against Iran has dropped significantly. from 15 or 21% in February, to 10% in this poll. The belief that Iran is a threat that can be contained with diplomacy now rose to its highest level of all the past polls reported-- 65%, with Republicans polling even higher, at 69%.
When asked, "members of the Bush administration have accused IRAN of supporting Iraqi insurgents by supplying them with weapons to use against American forces. When members of the Bush administration talk about Iran's involvement in Iraq" only 14% believed the Bush administration was telling the entire truth.
You have to wonder with such weak support for action against Iran, why the congressional Democrats have removed the part of their legislation requiring Bush to go to congress before taking action against Iran. This happened after the annual AIPAC meeting. The congress, both Democratic and Republican sides, are way to fearful of and influenced by AIPAC.
On most points, George Bush's low ratings have improved by a few points-- on Iraq, on Terrorism, the economy...
Congress dropped a few. The republican party actually hit a new low.
The question, "In general, is your opinion of the Republican party favorable or not favorable?" brought a response of 34% favorable, 58% unfavorable-- the lowest favorable rating since 1994.
The questions, "In general, is your opinion of the Democratic party favorable or not favorable?" brought a response of 47% favorable to 43% unfavorable.
Next, they asked what first words come to mind for Republicans and Democrats. People thought- -Bad/negative one third more for Republicans (16 to 12) -Good positive 120% more for Democrats (11 to 5) -Corrupt-- three times as much for Republicans (9 to 3)
Bad/negative was the highest percentage word for Republicans. Liberal was the highest percentage word for Democrats.
Here's a major one. They asked, "Which comes closer to your view: Government should do more to solve national problems; or Government is doing too many things better left to businesses and individuals?" The results: 41 % Government should do more 52% Government doing too much
These numbers, alone, are deceiving. This question has poll results dating back to 1994. This is the strongest support for govenment seen in the history of this poll question. For some reason, the last time the question was asked, or at least, was listed, was July 2000.
In the previous polls, the highest pro government response was 34%, except for three polls, one reaching 38% in 1998, and two in 1996 at 36%. The support for government dropped to as low as 24% in 1995. Yet, this new poll has REPUBLICANS supporting government at a 35% level.
The immigration issue is not as strong as Republicans might hope. The difference between those who support allowing immigrants already in the states versus deporting them is about the same as previous polls, and the difference between the percentage who support maintaining levels of immigration versus decreasing levels is less than many previous polls.
When asked whether the respondent is a Republican, Democrat or independent, the response for this poll was:
looking at years when democrats won: 10/92 28 38 29 5 10/96 28 40 25 7
looking at years when Republicans won 10/00 29 35 30 7 10/1-3/04 29 34 28 10
It's strange. Democrats had a ten to twelve point lead when Clinton won, while Bush only had a five or six point lead. Of course, there are many who believe the electronic voting machines and vote counters made the decisions in both Bush wins.
They ask what appears to be a new question:
Do you think of yourself as closer to the Republican party or to the Democratic party? PERCENTAGES INCLUDE THE RESULTS OF THE PREVIOUS QUESTION. Republican Democratic DK/NA 3/7-11/07 40 51 9
A question on whether gay couples should be allowed to marry, form civil unions or no legal recognition draws the lowest opposition to legal recognition ever. And 60% support the right to either marriage or civil union.
Asked whether they have a favorable or unfavorable rating of Dick Cheney, the poll shows the next lowest favorable rating 18%, except for January (16%) for Cheney for the time they polled on the question (since 2000.) Even Republicans don't appear to like him much. Only 48% give him favorable ratings.
Here's a big one:
If the 2008 election for President were being held today, would you probably vote for the Republican candidate or would you probably vote for the Democratic candidate? Rep Dem Other Won't vote Depends DK/NA 31 51 1 1 10 7 Six percent of republicans said they'd vote for a Democrat.
Hillary recieved the highest unfavorable rating (43) in this poll than she's received since they started asking the question in 1992.
Republicans were asked the importance of different issues-- opposing abortion, opposing gay marriage, support for another tax cut. The issue that the most republicans (56%) care most about-- tax cuts.
58% of Republicans want someone who is flexible about when to withdraw US troops, as opposed to a candidate who commits to winning (39%)
Would people vote for a Mormon for president? Only 39% of Republicans would and only 33% of voters as a whole. Tough break Mitt.
Are Democrats and Republicans satisfied with the field of candidates they have to choose from? 57% of the Dems are satisfied. 57% of the Republicans are not.
76% of respondents (vs 17%) do not feel "the Bush administration done all that it could reasonably be expected to do to care for the needs and problems facing returning military personnel from the Iraq War"
58% of respondents NEVER visit political blog websites on the internet.
55% don't listen to political talk radio; 39% of Republicans listen frequently, 30% of democrats listen frequently.
Asked to describe ideology; 20% liberal, 40% moderate, 36% conservative
Authors Bio:
Rob Kall is an award winning journalist, inventor, software architect,
connector and visionary. His work and his writing have been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, ABC, the HuffingtonPost, Success, Discover and other media.
He's given talks and workshops to Fortune
500 execs and national medical and psychological organizations, and pioneered
first-of-their-kind conferences in Positive Psychology, Brain Science and
Story. He hosts some of the world's smartest, most interesting and powerful
people on his Bottom Up Radio Show,
and founded and publishes one of the top Google- ranked progressive news and
opinion sites, OpEdNews.com
more detailed bio:
Rob Kall has spent his adult life as an awakener and empowerer-- first in the field of biofeedback, inventing products, developing software and a music recording label, MuPsych, within the company he founded in 1978-- Futurehealth, and founding, organizing and running 3 conferences: Winter Brain, on Neurofeedback and consciousness, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology (a pioneer in the field of Positive Psychology, first presenting workshops on it in 1985) and Storycon Summit Meeting on the Art Science and Application of Story-- each the first of their kind. Then, when he found the process of raising people's consciousness and empowering them to take more control of their lives one person at a time was too slow, he founded Opednews.com-- which has been the top search result on Google for the terms liberal news and progressive opinion for several years. Rob began his Bottom-up Radio show, broadcast on WNJC 1360 AM to Metro Philly, also available on iTunes, covering the transition of our culture, business and world from predominantly Top-down (hierarchical, centralized, authoritarian, patriarchal, big) to bottom-up (egalitarian, local, interdependent, grassroots, archetypal feminine and small.) Recent long-term projects include a book, Bottom-up-- The Connection Revolution, debillionairizing the planet and the Psychopathy Defense and Optimization Project.
To watch Rob having a lively conversation with John Conyers, then Chair of the House Judiciary committee, click here. Watch Rob speaking on Bottom up economics at the Occupy G8 Economic Summit, here.