The Mcdowell Times

Poll Problem

Congress has adjourned after a historic battle over United State Neutrality that petered out towards the close and ended with the retreat of Congress to the comparative safety of their own bailiwicks. No doubt there are a large majority of the solons that are now busy answering the questions of the folks back home why they voted for the administration Neutrality Bill when the letters from the voters urged them by a 20-to-1 margin not to repeal the embargo. No doubt the stock answer is that the polls showed the people favored repeal. During the heat of the debate several so-called samplings of public opinion by the Gallup Poll showed the people favored repeal. In the initial poll report 57 per cent of the people wanted the embargo repealed and the zenith was reached at 62 per cent for the administration bill shortly after the President's speech. However, the day that the House passed the bill and congress adjourned the Gallup Poll reported a drop to 56 per cent favoring the embargo repeal. Various other polls failed to record the same way as the Gallup Poll. In Illinois, a newspaper poll showed 20 to 1 against the administration bill. An Indianapolis newspaper poll ran 3-to-1 against repeal and a Valparaiso, Ind., newspaper poll showed about the same results. In West Virginia, a poll conducted by the Wheeling Intelligencer showed 4-to-1 opposing repeal of the embargo and the AP reported that mail to West Virginia representatives in Washington was 97 per cent against repeal. Of the West Virginia delegation in Washington, only two voted to keep the arms embargo. Sen. Holt, Democrat, and Congressman Schiffler, Republican. The latest poll issued by the American Institute of Public Opinion shows that President Roosevelt's third term popularity is growing among members of the Democratic party and that a majority favors such a plan while a few months ago the big majority opposed a third term.

Did you ever know, or see, anyone who voted in the poll taken by the "American Institute of Public Opinion?" If you have, you are a person among millions and the American public at large should contest the right of Dr. Gallup or any public opinion survey to say what the public is thinking.