Before DK shows up

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Before DK shows up, a couple quick thoughts on the new CNN poll. First, how’s this for a silly question.

The headline of the CNN article reads: “Americans foresee “more gridlock” in government if Democrats take over the House and/or the Senate after elections this fall, a CNN poll shows.”

How’d they come up with that …

Respondents were asked “next year, it is possible that the country will have a Republican president and a Democratic Congress. Do you think that is more likely to result in more cooperation between the two parties or more likely to result in more gridlock and stalemate in the government?”

Seventy percent expect “gridlock and stalemate” while 27 percent believe there would be “cooperation between the two parties.” Three percent had no opinion. Half the sample, or 502 people, was asked the gridlock question.

I don’t think I disagree with this. But isn’t this a textbook example of the question itself dictating the answer?

I mean, now Republicans control everything in Washington. Next year Democrats may control Congress and the Republicans the White House. Things will run just as smoothly? Or maybe we’ll get gridlock?

Are ya with me on this? Just seems like a silly exercise.

But further down there’s a very interesting number. And I think a pretty bad one for the GOP.

Fifty-seven percent of the respondents said they think it would be good for the country “if the Democrats in Congress were able to conduct official investigations into what the Bush administration has done in the past six years.” Forty-one percent said such probes would be bad for the country. Half of the sample was asked this question, also.

I’m actually pleasantly surprised at just how high that number is. A solid majority want a Democratic Congress to dig its teeth into real investigations of the administration.

The conventional wisdom usually has it that most voters don’t like bickering and investigations. They want to get things done, and all that. But this suggests that a clear majority of Americans realizes that what this country really needs to get done is get to the bottom of what’s happened to this country over the last half dozen years. It’s not a pretty picture.

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