Poll Still Shows Cherokees Do Not Support Cherokee Chief Joe Byrd

Survey and update provided by:
Barry Landeros-Thomas
Sunday, August 9, 1998

This is the most up-to-date information on the opinion survey as of, Sunday, August 9, 1998. For those of you that have already completed the survey, thank you very much. For those who have not, please take a moment to voice your opinion (it is completely anonymous and voluntary) at the following:
URL: http://www.orphanage.com/OpinionSurvey.shtml
[**Note: Space and script for online survey, donated by “Orphanage Services!”]

OPINION CRISIS SURVEY

The following survey was initiated by me (Barry Landeros-Thomas), a doctoral student at the Ohio State University. I currently work for the Center for Human Resource Research on the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1997 cohort). Yes, that is for you Byrdettes out there who would question my qualifications.

COMMENT: This includes the data from some “questionable” respondents. About 25 surveys that were sent in through the web page in about a 12 minute time period. Eleven of these were completely identical–sure got those septuptlets that have been in the news beat–their mother needs a medal, any woman that can give birth to eleven kids at one time needs some sort of recognition (smile)… but seriously, with some investigating I was able to confirm that these 25 surveys came from the same computer based on routing information. I included all of them (even obvious duplicates) to give all those 47 year-old siblings the benefit of the doubt.

To reiterate from the previous remarks, this survey is an information tool. Many thanks to those that have completed it, but the REAL WORK remains: get out there and VOTE JOE AND HIS CRONIES OUT OF OFFICE, show up at the holiday and SHOW THEM that you are NOT going to put up with their games anymore, show them that the Cherokee people aren’t going to put up with CHEATING, AND LYING from leaders of our Nation.

Update as of August 9, 1998: Current results of the survey:

Total number of respondents: 2151 (to date) Total number of Cherokee respondents: 1668 Total number registered to vote in CNO: 1081 (several more indicated that they will be registering soon) Average age of respondents: 41.01 (min-18 max-88) Total number of male respondents: 1005 (46.7%) Total number of female respondents:1146 (53.3%)

1. I support the actions of Principal Chief Joe Byrd.

84.4% DISAGREE 7.3% Unsure 8.3% Agree

2. I believe the termination of the Cherokee Marshals was an appropriate and justified act.

89.6% DISAGREE 6.3% Unsure 4.1% Agree

3. I believe that Principal Chief Joe Byrd should recognize the Judicial Appeals Tribunal’s reinstatement of the Cherokee Marshals.

4.5% Disagree 5.7% Unsure 89.8% AGREE

4. I believe that the impeachment of the Judicial Appeals Tribunal was an appropriate and justified act.

82.8% DISAGREE 14.0% Unsure 3.1% Agree

5. I believe that Principal Chief Joe Byrd should recognize the Judicial Appeals Tribunal as a valid tribal court.

4.3% Disagree 6.0% Unsure 89.7% AGREE

6. I believe the Byrd administration has consistently upheld the Cherokee Constitution.

78.6% DISAGREE 17.1% Unsure 4.3% Agree

7. I believe that it was appropriate and necessary to invite the Bureau of Indian Affairs into the Nation to assume Cherokee law enforcement duties.

90.2% DISAGREE 4.5% Unsure 5.3% Agree

8. I believe that the actions of BIA and other outside law enforcement personnel have been appropriate and justified.

88.1% DISAGREE 6.6% Unsure 5.3% Agree

9. I believe that Chief Joe Byrd’s performance of his official duties has been excellent.

88.1% DISAGREE 8.4% Unsure 3.5% Agree

10. I plan to vote for Joe Byrd in the next election.

90.2% DISAGREE 7.2% Unsure 2.6% Agree

Many thanks to those that have gotten the word out and distributed the surveys at pow-wows and other functions around the country and gotten people to use the on-line version.

The majority of the sample was taken during the holiday in Tahlequah (random opportunity sample at the courthouse and the heritage center–also the Murrell House). Therefore, anyone that was at the holiday had the opportunity to complete a survey (cuts down on selection bias), other respondents range from Oregon and California on the west coast to NY and Baltimore on the east coast.

The survey contained some basic demographic questions (age, sex, tribal affiliation, etc.) along with ten forced choice opinion questions on the crisis–the responses were on a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from Very Strongly Disagree (1) to Very Strongly Agree (7). If you need a more professional description, I can put it in journal “Data and Measures” and “Results” format if requested.

Wado, Barry

Barry Landeros-Thomas
c/o The Ohio State University
Center for Human Resource Research
921 Chatham Lane, Suite 200
Columbus, Ohio 43221-2418.