Vast majority in RI prefer ‘Christmas tree,’ poll showed last year
November 30th, 2012 at 1:36 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
Clearly Lincoln Chafee doesn’t mind bucking public opinion.
With the governor going on national TV to make his second annual push to call the State House spruce a “holiday tree,” it’s worth taking another look at a Brown University survey question on the issue that was published last year.
The poll found an overwhelming 77% of Rhode Island voters said they would prefer the governor call it a “Christmas tree,” while just 11% preferred Chafee’s “holiday tree” formulation, 4% wanted something else and 8% didn’t know.
Treasurer Gina Raimondo, who is expected to challenge Chafee in 2014 if he runs for re-election, is more in line with the general public. “It’s a Christmas tree,” she told The Valley Breeze’s Ethan Shorey on Friday, adding: “That’s on the record.” Providence Mayor Angel Taveras also went with Christmas tree.
The telephone survey of 464 registered voters in Rhode Island was conducted Dec. 2-9, 2011, by Brown’s A. Alfred Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions and John Hazen White Public Opinion Laboratory. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.
• Related: Analysis: On ‘Christmas’ trees and the public square in RI (Dec. 2, 2011)
Tags: christmas tree, christmas trees, gordon fox, holiday tree, holiday trees, lincoln chafee, state government, treecrisis, treegate, war on christmas
Nesi's Notes covers politics and the economy in and around Rhode Island for WPRI.com. (Twitter: 
Do those in the media feel they have any responsibility in raising the debate to a more serious level? Or does it always come down to ratings and a race to the bottom by stirring up the masses? This site has done well because it provided some solid analysis on complex issues, not this drivel.
it’s a flawed poll. There should have been a third question: “Or could you not care less what Linc Chafee, or anyone else calls it?” There’s you vast majority.
Why do we have to refer to Chafee as Governor? Why can’t we call him a Holiday Tree?
I have other names for him. He is not like his father. Voted for him last time but not the next.
You people elected this reject. He also stated he is living proof of Rhode Island public schools. He is the perfect example of what is wrong with public education. Give school vouchers to those of us who want our kids to be productive members of society.
So graduating Brown, U.S. Senate for 7 years, and becoming governor, not productive enough for ya?
Let us know when your kid does even one of those things. Or you, for that matter…
You can change the name of the tree all you want, but, that doesn’t change what it is. It’s still a CHRISTMAS tree!