Poll Shows Florida Residents Split on Allowing Terri Schiavo to Live

LifeNews.com ^ | April 8, 2004 | Steven Ertelt

[nickcarraway]

Clearwater, FL (LifeNews.com) -- A new poll shows Florida residents split on the issue of Governor Jeb Bush stepping in six months ago to ensure that Terri Schiavo's estranged husband did not end her life by removing the feeding tube that is allowing her to live.

The poll found that 41 percent of Florida residents backed Bush's decision while an equal number say it was wrong. Some 18 percent of respondents were unsure.

Responding to the poll, Pat Anderson, attorney for Terri's parents Bob and Mary Schindler, told LifeNews.com, "Perhaps people have begun to think about who they would trust to decide their lives are no longer worth living."

"Perhaps they've even begun to imagine themselves as vulnerable and disabled and how susceptible to abuse that would leave them," Anderson said. "Maybe even people have begun to see Terri Schiavo as a human being."

Although previous polls have showed strong opposition to Governor Bush intervening on behalf of Terri, they have been roundly condemned as biased.

According to a late February poll, conducted for The Florida Times-Union and South Florida Sun-Sentinel newspapers, only 29 percent backed the governor while 67 percent said Bush and the Legislature were wrong to get involved.

But, pro-life advocates say the question used by Maryland-based polling firm Research 2000, was extraordinarily biased, and that a fairer question could turn up significantly different results.

Respondents were asked: "Do you think Governor Bush and the Florida legislature were right to order the continuation of life support for Terri Schiavo, who has been in a vegetative state for more than a decade?"

However, Terri Schiavo is not on life support nor is she in a vegetative state.

In October, three doctors, including a radiologist and Dr. William Hammesfahr, a recognized national expert on PVS and a Nobel prize nominee, assessed Terri's condition. "This woman is not in a persistent vegetative state," the doctors said at a press conference to announce their findings.

"This is a morally profound, complicated issue," Alia Faraj, a Bush spokeswoman, told the Orlando Sentinel newspaper. "But the governor has strong feelings about saving the life of Terri Schiavo. He felt this was the right thing to do."

The new telephone survey of 625 likely voters was conducted March 30 through April 1 by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. The Orlando Sentinel and WESH-TV sponsored the poll.

Related web sites:

Terri Schiavo's family - http://www.terrisfight.org

[nickcarraway]

[Texas Eagle]

Poll Shows Florida Residents Split on Allowing Terri Schiavo to Live

FLASH! Constitution is not.

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[MHGinTN]

The dnc has nearly ruined Flordia. Scary place ... wouldn't allow anyone in my family to even drive through the state. Too risky

[syriacus]

So, they're evenly split.

Well, in that case, they should err on the side of life.

Don't juries' verdicts have to be unanimous when they find someone guilty of a crime punishable by death?

[nickcarraway]

Poll Shows Majority Of Florida Residents Oppose Terri's Law [Biased Question]

[CindyDawg]

A poll is only as good as the expected outcome. Ask the right questions and you can skew any of them. Look at the GWB ones. If you still don't like the results then you misrepresent with words. Ex; if the president ahead it's "neck to neck" If Kerry ahead "bush behind"

[gooleyman]

Title: Poll Shows Florida Residents Split on Allowing Terri Schiavo to Live

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These folks can shove their polls...am I allowed to say that? Anyway...What are Americans NOT split on? We need to lose a few polster jobs overseas. Quite a few.

[expatpat]

How far has this society sunk? to poll people on whether an innocent woman should be killed or not! Disgusting!

[festus]

Not just killed mind you but starved to death slowly.

At the same time we worry if convicted murderers suffer to much when we kill them.

At the same time we have a large contingent that sees nothing wrong with tearing a helpless infant limb for limb and destroying its skull as long as it hasn't yet emerged from its mother.

Words fail me.

[Theodore R.]

The people of FL never cease to amaze me. They cavalierly think nothing of recommending death for a disabled woman whom they nothing about, will never meet, and have no compassion for whatsoever. I suspect that these are the transplanted Floridians, not the natives, who want Terri dead YEARS AGO.

[supercat]

The people of FL never cease to amaze me. They cavalierly think nothing of recommending death for a disabled woman whom they nothing about, will never meet, and have no compassion for whatsoever. I suspect that these are the transplanted Floridians, not the natives, who want Terri dead YEARS AGO.

I don't read things that way. More likely they think Terri is a brain-dead carcass through whom some machines are pumping oxygenated blood. I suspect that they believe that if Terri were not brain-dead or if there were any sigh of life, that the state would protect her without question--since the state is doing so reluctantly at best they figure Michael's claims must be true.

[gonzo]

"...The dnc has nearly ruined Flordia. Scary place ... wouldn't allow anyone in my family to even drive through the state. Too risky..."

This ain't Detroit, MHG - it's Florida, and I live here, and we took it away from the DNC in 2000, and secured it in 2002!! We're not letting those bastards ever steal it again!!

The traffic is a bitch, though... All those old geezers in the left lane with the seat belts hangin' out makin' sparks...

Wait-a-sec - I gotta buckle-up.......................FRegards

[gonzo]

I don't usually get into this one, but here goes:

If the Powers-That-Be put this woman, Terri Schiavo, to death, I will spend all of my efforts, for the rest of my life, to make sure that they are identified as MURDERERS!!

This is happenning just down the road from me, and I don't need to go to jail, again, not for the pig, Michael Schiavo. That's how I feel................FRegards

[nickcarraway]

BUMP

[pc93]

What the native american indians? I happen to be from the midwest and have lived in FL since 89.

[pc93]

Sorry I mean 88. Did you call the Health Administration yet?

[Mr. Silverback]

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