Posted on 01/20/2005 11:13:13 PM PST by West Coast Conservative
BAGHDAD, Jan. 20 -- An overwhelming majority of Iraqis continue to say they intend to vote on Jan. 30 even as insurgents press attacks aimed at rendering the elections a failure, according to a new public opinion survey.
The poll, conducted in late December and early January for the International Republican Institute, found 80 percent of respondents saying they were likely to vote, a rate that has held roughly steady for months.
The 64 percent who said they were "very likely" to vote represented a dip of about 7 percentage points from a November survey, while those "somewhat likely" to vote increased 5 points.
Western specialists involved with election preparations said they were struck by the determination and resilience of ordinary Iraqis as they anticipate their country's first free election in half a century.
"Despite the efforts of the terrorists, Iraqis remain committed to casting their vote on election day," IRI President Lorne Craner said in a statement. The organization, which is funded by Congress through the National Endowment for Democracy and the U.S. Agency for International Development, commissioned the poll, which surveyed 1,900 Iraqis in all but two of the country's 18 provinces. Poor security made two in the far north, Nineveh and Dohuk, inaccessible. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
"I think people will be shocked," said an official of another international organization deeply involved in preparing Iraq's nascent political class for the ballot. The official, who insisted that neither he nor his organization could be identified because of security concerns, said most Iraqis remained intent on exercising their right to elect a government after decades of dictatorships.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Made a bet with my uncle today that they'd get a higher turnout of eligible voters than we did. Easy money.
http://theonion.com/infograph/index.php?issue=4103
I found this pretty funny.
That is pretty funny.
Is that likley voters or registered voter?
They will be able to register at the polls. It makes good sense for them I think.
Many have registered already, but most will probably register when they vote.
They were pretty specific on how that would work, in order to reduce fraud.
Every Iraqi I've spoken with about this over the last couple of months is very enthusiastic about voting. There has not been one single exception to this in my own personal "polling."
Will people that have been killed by the terrorists be able to vote? And if so, will they vote Sunni?
We should write in Kerry as a candidate.
He wouldn't win here, either.
The decent Iraqis love President "Boosh" and were delighted that he won.
The media lies. They go around talking to as many Iraqis as it takes until they find the one that will trash Bush and the U.S. and put that one on the air.
BTTT
Those Iraqis who love liberty more than death will make their voice heard on January 30th!
Hey! the media does the same thing here. Notice all the weighted "polls" showing Bush's low approval.
ABC trolling for military funerals in hopes a family in their hour of grief will speak out against President Bush.
Somethings don't change with freedom of the press, because some media will always push it's agenda. What does change is that other options are available so one can look around until a credible source of news is found.
In the USA we finally have Fox News, they at least try to be balanced as well as wide access to the internet.
Oh, the US media was who I was talking about. ;-)
Baghdad Dweller
Forcing Democracy to The Middle East
http://www.roadstoiraq.com/?p=154
Election poll from Al-sabah
This poll was published in Al-Sabah newspaper showing that “terrorists” have failed to to dissuade Iraqis from votin, many be willing to take on the risks necessary to wrench back control of their nation. Even in a dangerous, quasi democratic election.
The poll was of 4974 Iraqis living in and around Baghdad.
The following is the translation of the poll and the results:
Will the security problems cause you to?
Not come out and vote the day of elections = 18.3%
Come out and vote the day of elections = 78.3%
No opinion = 3.4%
Do you support the Iraqi Government having its own official newspaper?
Yes = 67.7%
No = 30.9%
Do Not know = 1.4%?
Do you support military action against the terrorists?
Yes = 87.7 %
No = 11.1%
Don’t Know = 1.2%
The media lies.
Chrenkoff
http://chrenkoff.blogspot.com/
Friday, January 21, 2005
Bad news from Iraq
Being avid consumers of news, most of us are aware of the consistent stream of negative reporting coming out of Iraq. Death, violence, terrorism, precarious political situation, problems with reconstruction and public frustration (both in Iraq and America) dominate, if not overwhelm, the mainstream media coverage and commentary on Iraq. The readers' reactions to my fortnightly "Good news from Iraq" segments show just how little good news reaches people.
But it's one thing to have a gut feeling about media negativity and another to know exactly how negative the coverage is. So today I decided to do a little tally.
Friday, 21 January (Australian time) is an average day as far as Iraq is concerned. Google news indexes the following negative stories concerning Iraq:
2,642 stories about Condi Rice's confirmation hearings, in the context of grilling she has received over the Administration's Iraq policy
1,992 stories about suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks
887 stories about prisoner abuse by British soldiers
2,345 stories about President Bush's inauguration, in the context of the President failing to mention the word "Iraq" in his speech, or indeed discuss the war
216 stories about hostages currently being held in Iraq
761 stories reporting on activities and public statements of insurgents
357 stories about the anti-war movement and the dropping public support for involvement in Iraq
182 stories about American servicemen killed and wounded in operations
217 stories about concerns for fairness and validity of Iraqi election (low security, low turnout, etc.)
107 stories about civilian deaths in Iraq
123 stories noting Vice President Cheney's admission that he had underestimated the task of reconstruction
219 stories about possible military action against Iran
24 stories about tense relations with Syria
118 stories about complicated and strained relations between the US and Europe
121 stories discussing the possibility of American pullout
27 stories about sabotage of Iraqi oil infrastructure
660 stories about prosecutions in the Oil for Food scandal
Then we have 123 stories - ostensibly neutral - about details of current troop deployments and movements. I write "ostensibly" because among that number there are numerous stories about deserters or soldiers refusing orders.
Finally we come to positive news:
311 stories about voter registration for Iraqis overseas. Even here we have to be cautious as significant number of these stories comment on "disappointingly" low numbers registering.
16 stories about security successes in the fight against insurgents
7 stories about positive developments relating to elections
73 stories about the return to Iraq of stolen antiques.
If the media coverage was war, the good guys would be getting slaughtered. Well, maybe the media coverage is war...
# posted by Arthur : 1:28 PM
The MSM does the same thing with military personnel. They look for the one disgruntled soldier out of hundreds, who is probably a lifelong democrat and entered the military during the Klintoon regime, and they use his or her anti-Bush comments, and try to convince us that thats the general consensus in Iraq.
No, you just don't get it, only the exit polls will count.
suicide bomber: neo-slave
Washington Post was struck that this could be admitted in print.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.