The Mother Jones Poll Results

There were more than 300 respondents to last week’s poll. Here’s what they had to say. Be sure to participate in our latest poll. Also, check out the <a href="/news/feature/1996/10/poll_archive.html">results</a> of our previous polls.

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1. The first presidential debate is Sunday, October 6. But if another round of soundbites and plastic smiles leaves you reaching for the remote, the MoJo Wire has picked out some of the evening’s highlights. What will you be watching?

40% The Debate

10% Baseball

10% (no answer)

10% Bullwinkle

9% Ancient Mysteries

8% Ren & Stimpy

2. Who is your favorite choice to moderate the debates?

23% Jim Lehrer

15% Cokie Roberts

12% Kelsey Grammer

7% (no answer)

5% Katie Couric

Our favorite write-ins:

Wink Martindale

Big Bird

RuPaul

Hunter S. Thompson

Jello Biafra

3. If all these candidates had an equal chance of winning, who would you vote for?

37% Harry Browne

32% Ralph Nader

19% Bill Clinton

5% Bob Dole

2% John Hagelin

2% Ross Perot

1% (no answer)

0.7% Lyndon LaRouche

0.3% Howard Phillips

4. If you were restricted to just these two candidates, which one would you vote for?

59% Bill Clinton

26% No answer

15% Bob Dole

5. What’s your favorite reason why Perot should or shouldn’t be included in the debate?

Our favorite responses for:

“USA should be reminded that even an idiot can become a billionaire.”

“He should, but only if he’s included in the calf-roping competition.”

“Someone should represent Disney.”

And against:

“His ears remind me of Ferengi sexual organs and shouldn’t be shown on prime time TV.”

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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