Pardon Libby? Another Poll Says No.
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Polls, The Plame Game
Gallup this time. But the numbers are interesting.
- Those who followed the story closely…55% think he shouldn’t get a pardon, while 44% should.
- Those who followed it somewhat closely…73% think no, while 25% think yes.
- Those who didn’t follow it at all…66% say no, 15% say yes and 20% didn’t have an opinion.
Think it’s because of partisanship? Not really…
This finding is not because of underlying partisan differences in the likelihood of following the trial, as 45% of both Democrats and Republicans report following the trial closely. Rather, it appears that a substantial proportion of those familiar with the specifics of the trial may believe that Libby was treated unfairly enough to justify a pardon. For example, some have suggested that the special prosecutor made Libby a “fall guy” for the White House in the investigation. Those who are not familiar with the specifics of the case are more likely responding to the general notion that persons convicted of crimes do not deserve the special treatment a pardon imparts.
There the pulse of the nation for you folks. Even people who followed it closely still think Scooter should serve time.
Is Libby screwed?
This entry was posted on Friday, March 16th, 2007 and is filed under Polls, The Plame Game. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
March 16th, 2007 at 11:34 am
No matter what the polls say, Bush will do whatever he wants. He believes he is the decider.
March 16th, 2007 at 11:49 am
Libby is quickly turning into the Republican’s Alger Hiss. In the end it won’t matter at all what the merits are, it will only serve as a mantra of ideological faith. Both ways.
And since when has public opinion been a deciding factor on presidential pardons anyway? Bush can simply wait and issue it in his waning days if he is worried about political backlash. It is what others have done for their cronies, and I can’t see there has been any huge fallout from any of it.
March 16th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
No matter what the polls say, Bush will do whatever he wants. He believes he is the decider.
He believes? Hello… the President has it within his powers of office to pardon someone if he sees it necessary. If he wants to pardon Libby he’s free to do so no matter what Gallup or Zogby or the NYT says.
There have been NUMEROUS “controversial” pardons as Presidents left office… this one wouldn’t be any worse.
Can someone explain why Plame is even being spoken to in Congress? They’re still going on with this crap as if it was still on trial. The trial that resulted from all this was over perjury and obstruction and it’s done (pending appeals)… why bother?
March 16th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
OOPS!!! I should have added that it is Cheney who is pulling the Decider’s strings. That Better?