The Crisis of "Tuesday 911":
Interchange with Pollster John Zogby

9/16/2001, 11:23 a.m. PDT

I had the following interchange with leading national pollster John Zogby on the Washington Post's Web site this morning:

Progressive Portal: How much are you seeing Americans stepping back from the gut desire for quick revenge and thinking about the need to avoid harming innocent civilians in, say, Afghanistan, or the need to maintain rather than curtail our domestic civil liberties? Is there likelihood that the public will demand a reasoned and measured response to this disaster?

John Zogby: Excellent question. I think that you will have a more measured and thoughtful response as each day passes. What we know already is that blanket support of military action, 93 percent in the Washington Post poll, falls to 69 percent when the issue of American casualties comes into play and 77 percent when it involves innocent civilians in other countries. This is why polling is important, because it plays a role in the decision making of our leaders -- not the main role, but at least an important consideration.

The full conversation with Mr. Zogby may be read at:
http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/zforum/01/freemedia_zogby0916.htm

 

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