by Frank James
A new American Research Group poll
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suggests that, in an Alice in Wonderland way, President Bush’s commutation of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s prison sentence is both a polarizing and unifying event in contemporary American politics.Overall, 64 percent of the respondents to the survey disapproved of President Bush’s clemency towards Libby while 31 percent approved.
Here’s the polarizing part. The poll indicates that 13 percent of Democrats approved Bush’s compassion towards Libby while 76 disapproved.
By contrast, 50 percent of Republicans approved of Bush commuting Libby’s prison sentence.
Here’s the unifying aspect of Bush’s Libby move. Nearly half the Republican voters, 47 percent disapproved of the president’s action. So they have that in common with nearly three quarters of the Democrats. You can add to that group 80 percent of those identified as independents.
When the discussion turned to an outright pardon, 82 percent of Democrats, 70 percent of Republicans and a whopping 97 percent of independents opposed such a move by Bush.The survey also asked about impeaching the president and Vice President Cheney. Those surveyed basically split evenly on whether Bush should be impeached, with 45 percent in favor and 46 percent against.
Democrats and independents were much more supportive of impeaching the president, coming in at 69 percent and 50 percent, respectively. Only 13 percent of Republicans favored the idea.
A clear majority in the poll wanted Cheney impeached, 54 percent versus 40 percent with a dynamic similar to that seen on the Bush question, with Democrats desiring a Cheney impeachment more than independents and a small percentage of Republicans approving of that.