impeachment polling

* greg mitchell from e&p had an online chat:

"Q: What do you think of the Washington Post's refusal to conduct public opinion polls on the topic of whether the president should be impeached? More generally, how do polling organizations decide (and how should they decide) which topics merit inclusion in their polls and which do not? Do you believe that the existence of a poll on a particular subject can give that subject undue legitimacy (for example, the Fox News polls last year on whether there is a "war against Christmas") -- or, on the contrary, that the non-existence of a poll can inappropriately suppress a topic that is worthy of more widespread attention?

A: I’m aware of this question and asked Dr. Frank Newport, head of the Gallup Poll, about it a few months ago. He said he was pondering it and would pop the question when it seemed like it was gaining traction. By that he meant, when a few more people launch a serious effort in Congress—and newspaper editorials take up the cause. This hasn’t happened yet. But should that be the criteria? Polls on this subject so far from Zogby etc. have been somewhat flawed, due to how the question is posed, but even so, it seems that, right or wrong, probably 30 to 40 percent of Americans would say, yes, on impeachment, so it seems like it’s worth asking."

as i mentioned the other day, the wsj wrote an article about impeachment and they slid straight past the usual disclaimers abuot the question - they didn't even blink at the notion that the president lied about going to war. further, we ask the same question about impeachment given the spying and we again got a 50%+ number.