New poll favors officializing English in US

[Harold F. Schiffman]

New Poll Finds That 79 Percent of Americans Favor Making English Official;
Data Shows Even Higher Support among First and Second Generation Americans

6/29/2005 8:37:00 AM

[Moderator's note: U.S. English sponsored the poll, and Zogby is a
reputable pollster. But what exactly was the form of the questions that
were asked?  Could the answers have been skewed by the form of the
question? (HS)]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Contact: Rob Toonkel of U.S. English, Inc., 202-833-0100

WASHINGTON, June 29 /U.S. Newswire/ -- More than three- quarters of
Americans support making English the official language of the United
States according to a new poll conducted by Zogby International for U.S.
English, Inc. The poll of 1,001 likely voters found that 79 percent of
Americans favor legislation that would make English the official language,
with more than four out of five first-generation and second-generation
Americans supporting the measure.

The poll found majority support for official English legislation among
every subset of the population, including by gender, age, race, political
affiliation, religion, marital status, education level and income level.
Most notably, 81 percent of individuals who are immigrants or children of
immigrants indicated that they favored making English the official
language of the United States. Conducted from June 7-9, 2005, the poll has
a margin of error of (plus or minus) 3.2 percentage points, with higher
margins of error in sub-groups.

"Making English the official language is a widely-supported, common sense
policy for a united nation," said Mauro E. Mujica, chairman of U.S.
English, Inc. "These numbers prove that Americans understand that English
is the key to academic success, economic opportunity, and political
participation in the United States. As they have at their town halls and
at the ballot box, the people have spoken in favor of a common language
policy. Now it is time for Congress to act by bringing up the measure for
a hearing and a vote."

In the 109th Congress, 125 Representatives have worked to address the lack
of a common language statute, signing on as co- sponsors of H.R. 997, the
English Language Unity Act of 2005. Introduced by Rep. Steve King (R-IA),
this bi-partisan legislation would make English the official language of
the United States government while providing common sense exceptions for
public safety, trade and tourism. Despite the bill's ranking as one of the
most widely supported bills in the 109th Congress, the House has stalled
on bringing the measure up for a vote.

The poll marks the ninth consecutive U.S. English poll to find more than
75 percent support for making English the official language of the United
States. Prior polls in 2004, 2002, 2000, 1996, 1995, 1993, 1991 and 1988
all found in excess of three- quarters of the population in favor of such
legislation.

---

U.S. English, Inc. is the nation's oldest and largest non- partisan
citizens' action group dedicated to preserving the unifying role of the
English language in the United States. Founded in 1983 by the late Sen.
S.I. Hayakawa of California, U.S. English, Inc. ( http://www.usenglish.org
) now has more than 1.8 million members.

http://www.usnewswire.com/

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=49626

[Moderator's note: U.S. English sponsored the poll, and Zogby is a
reputable pollster. But what exactly was the form of the questions that
were asked?  Could the answers have been skewed by the form of the
question? (HS)]