The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, May 25, 1983, Image 2
Page 2/The Battalion/Wednesday, May 25, 1983 opinion What pollster can you believe? by Clay F. Richards United Press International WASHINGTON — There are going to be some rough times ahead for the folks who make a living by taking political polls. Several times in recent weeks poll re sults have come out and have either been labeled false by the candidates involved or proven false by an election. In Philadelphia last week, voters in largely white precincts were asked when they came out of the polls if they had voted for black mayoral candidate Wil son Goode. Thirty-six percent of the whites said they had. Only trouble was when the votes were counted Goode got 23 percent to 25 per cent of the white vote. Telling a lie to a pollster is nothing new. The same thing happened last November in the race for governor of California, where black Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley won the exit polls but lost the election. A Los Angeles times poll last week showed Sen. John Glenn of Ohio had pulled narrowly ahead of former Vice President Walter Mondale in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Every other poll for months has given Mondale a 2-1 lead over Glenn. The poll was obviously wrong, the Mondale camp claimed. Or Democrats were only temporarily getting excited ab out Glenn because he had just announced his candidacy, they said. A poll last Thursday by ABC and the Washington Post showed President Reagan’s approval record had bounded to its highest level in 18 months. Yet the poll was unable to explain what events had triggered such a drama tic and fast jump in Reagan’s approval. The 1984 presidential candidates already are spending huge amounts of money on polling. President Reagan still relies heavily on the polls of Richard Wirthlin, the man who accurately pre dicted the size of the Reagan landslide in 1980. But for the public as a whole, the im portance of polls is likely to decline as their results become more suspect. If voters lie to network pollsters when they leave the voting booth, there will be a decline in network projections of who will win hours before the votes are counted. And the people are beginning to real ize that the public will feel entirely diffe rently about Reagan, or about the Demo cratic presidential candidates, by next May, so what they think now really isn’t all that important. Polling as a part of political life is here to stay. Candidates are always going to want to know what the people are think ing about and why. But it used to be that in an election campaign the underdog would say the only poll he cared about was the one taken on election day. Maybe we’re com ing to the point where that will be the case. MV SURROGATE - MOTHSR ALWAYS LIKEP MY TEST-TUBE BROTHER BETTER,., Reagan inherited 200 years of policy by Dick West United Press International WASHINGTON — President Reagan has been subjected to a certain amount of joshing for saying the policies of previous administrations have made it more diffi cult to reach some of his goals. Typical of his critics is House Demo cratic Leader Jim Wright of Texas, who last week called Reagan “the biggest alibi artist ever to serve in the White House.” “Ronald Reagan says blame it on Jim my, or blame it on Jerry, or blame it on Lyndon, or blame it on Harry, or Zachary Taylor or Millard Fillmore,” Wright told the House. No matter how far back you go, Reagan is by no means the first chief ex ecutive to feel emcumbered by his prede cessors. All U.S. presidents since George Washington have been painfully aware that someone had been there before them. Franklin Roosevelt inherited a worl dwide depression that nurtured the seeds of Nazism that led to World War II. Harry Truman inherited the atom bomb project that led to the Nuclear Age with all of its attendant ills. Dwight Eisenhower inherited a war in Korea that led to “M-A-S-H” reruns on television. LB] inherited a domino theory that led to the escalation of the light at the end of the tunnel. And so it has gone throughout history. Every American president after Washington has inherited something that either bound him to policies not of his making, or hindered his own policies. Recall, if you will, some of the things done by John Adams, our second presi dent, with ramifications his successors have had to cope with. Fact: It was during Adams’ adminis tration that the U.S. Marine Corps was created. Now Reagan must resolve dis putes over sending Marines to Lebanon. Fact: Adams signed the first federal forestry legislation. Anyone at all famil iar with the controversy swirling about Interior Secretary James Watt knows what a headache public lands have be come. Fact: Adams was president when the U.S. Public Health Service was estab lished. Health care has been one of the major issues confronting Reagan. James Madison, the fourth president, created a precedent of sorts by permit ting the national debt to climb above the $1 million mark. To James Monroe, the fifth president, fell the honor of presiding over the na tion’s first financial panic. Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th presi dent, received the first Chinese diploma tic delegation. And so it went — each president con tributing another ingredient to the policy hash that has given his successors indi gestion. Reagan, as the latest in the line, has had it tougher than most. It having been nearly 200 years since the end of George Washington’s second term, almost two centuries of presiden tial policy decisions have piled up on him. If the origin can be pinpointed, the date might be April 25, 1/98, during the aforementioned Adams’ term. That was when “Hail Columbia” was sung in a theater for the first time. U.S. presidents have been catching “Hail Columbia” ever since. The Battalion USPS 045 360 Member ot Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference Editor HopeE. Paasch City Editor Kelley Smith Sports Editor John Wagner News Editors Daran Bishop, Brian Boyer, Beverly Hamilton, Tammy Jones Staff Writers Scott Griffin, Robert McGlohon, Angel Stokes, Joe Tindel Copyeditors .... Kathleen Hart, Tracey Taylor Cartoonist Scott McCullar Photographers Brenda Davidson, Eric Lee, Barry Papke, Peter Rocha Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting news paper operated as a community service to Texas A&M University and Bryan-College Station. Opinions ex pressed in The Battalion are those of the editor or the author, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Texas A&M University administrators or faculty mem bers, or of the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for students in reporting, editing and photography clas ses within the Department of Communications. Questions or comments concerning any editorial matter should be directed to the editor. Letters Policy Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 words in length, and are subject to being cut if they are longer. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters for style and length, but will make every effort to maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must also be signed and show the address and telephone number of the writer. Columns and guest editorials also are welcome, and are not subject to the same length constraints as letters. Address all inquiries and correspondence to: Editor, The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M Uni versity, College Station, TX 77843, or phone (409) 845- 2611. The Battalion is published Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday during both Texas A&M regular summer sessions, except for holiday and examination periods. Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester, $33.25 per school year and $35 per full year. Advertising rates furnished on request. Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald Building, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843. United Press International is entitled exclusively to the use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited to it. Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein reserved. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843. M d J) Bockv mtxj. NEW£~ NEA Crumbling Capitol debate continues by Don Phillips United Press International WASHINGTON — The Capitol is falling. The Capitol is falling. Well, not really. But a big chunk fell off the West Front of the Capitol a couple of weeks ago, and the sound of the crash hardly had died before an old battle was renewed: whether to replace the West Front with an extension or to repair it. With the possible exceptions of war and peace, and congressional pay raises, few issues stir such emotion. There’s a good reason for that. The West Front, which faces the Mall leading toward the Washington Monument, is the last of the historic building’s original faces. Over the years, the rest of the Capi tol was extended in three .directions, but not west. George Washington laid the corner stone (now missing, by the way) for the Capitol in 1793, and the vast majority of Americans who have ever lived likely have viewed the West Front. The British came running up those steps and apparently entered the Capitol during the War of 1812 through a West Front door that is believed by Rep. Joseph Moakley, D-Mass., to now be a window in his Capitol office. Demonstrations — the unemployed in the 1930s, civil rights and antiwar in the 1960s, farmers and others in the 1970s — have been a stock in trade of the West Front. President Reagan was inaugu rated there. The list could be endless. For years, the West Front has been in disrepair, awaiting a decision whether to repair or replace it. There was even talk a decade ago that it might collapse under something no greater than a sonic boom, and giant beams were used to columns. Talk of imminent collapse the early 1970s when a bombbfo an out-of-the-way rest room in Front. The building didn’t evt much less fall. But a few weeks ago, a ( chunk of sandstone worked the debate that had died down years began again. Capitol architect George Whitt to enclose the wall behind a38-f( ble-covered extension, which vide 79,000 square feet of usabltl for offices and tourist facilities. 1 the cost of the project at about lion — $929 per square foot. The proponents of expansion powerful ally — House Speaker ' O’Neill, DMass. — and a billtoa] the extension has been cleared legislative subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee. But the opponents are determi preserve rather than add, and the far from over. Among the deitii tions witnessed by the West Front in its favor, held in mid-May. The issue cuts across party gional lines. Even staff members porters divide on the issue. I pet think it would be an affront to hi hide the old walls that haveseenso| of it. There’s too much bureaui this town now to encourage more adding space for it. The Capitol is a monument promise, but there can be nocoin| on this issue. Unless, of course wants to propose tearing out l and building downward. Diving board use question^ Editor: I have two questions directed at the swimming pool folks. 1) Why, when one of the low diving boards is broken, can’t average Janes, like myself, use the other low board? You know the one I mean — the new and expensive one. The board is strictly re served, nay guarded, for that elite i of diving team members andspeT ving class students. 2) Who paid for the newbojlf would be nice for Fexas A&M's'l team to do well, but not at the i expense of others. Becky Kruppenh Berrys World ©1983byNEA, Inc. &