Below are the texts of the survey questions and the responses of the participants:

Over 85% of Respondents Did Not Know Positions of 2004 Presidential Candidates

Question 1: As a registered voter, are all or any of these issues--Cyprus, the Ecumenical Patriarchate/Halki School of Theology, Albania, and FYROM--important to you?

Responses: 91% responded that these issues were important; 9 % indicated that they were not.

Question 2: Would the positions of candidates on any of these issues influence your vote in the upcoming November presidential election?

Responses: 78% registered a "yes;" 22% said "no."

Question 3: Do you know the positions of President George Bush, Senator John Kerry, and Mr. Ralph Nader on the four key issues (Cyprus, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Albania, and FYROM)?

Responses: 88% said that they did not know the position of the candidates, with 12% responding that they were informed of their positions.

Question 4: If you do not know the positions of the three major presidential candidates on these four key issues (Cyprus, Ecumenical Patriarchate/Halki, Albania, and FYROM), would you like to learn what their positions are?

Responses: 90% responded "yes," while 10% indicated that they had no interest in learning their positions.

Question 5: Keeping in mind that media commentators and experts identify several issues as critical to U.S. voters, namely, the state of the economy, education, the environment, health care, and security, among others, would you consider voting for a presidential candidate based on his views on the issues important to Greek-Americans (Cyprus, the Ecumenical Patriarchate/Halki, Albania, and FYROM)?

Responses: 75% said "yes" to this question; 25% responded "no."

Question 6: To which political party do you belong?

Responses: Democrats, 32%; Independents, 44%; Republican, 27%

The overwhelming majority of survey participants (90%) indicated that these issues were important to them, with over 75% specifying further that their November votes could be influenced by the positions of the candidates.

Question 7: Are you aware that over a million Greeks, together with 1.5 million Armenians and 700,000 Assyrians were victims of the genocide which took place in Anatolia starting in 1908 when the Neo-Turks took over?

Responses: 93% responded that they were aware; 7% said that they were not aware.

Question 8:  In which state are you legally registered to vote?

Responses: [The editors have decided to group the individual states listed in answers into regions.] North, 55%; South, 14%; East, 19%; West, 12%.

Question 9: Would you consider writing a letter to one of the major presidential candidates?

Responses: 70% of the respondents said "yes," while 30% indicated "no."

Question 10: Are you aware of the existence of the Congressional Caucus on Hellenic Issues?

Responses: 65% said "yes," with the remaining 35% responding "no."

Question 11: Is your Representative a member of the Congressional Hellenic Caucus? See 108^th Congress Hellenic Caucus list co-chaired by Carolyn B. Maloney and Michael Bilirakis at http://www.house.gov/maloney/issues/hellenic/members.html.

Responses: Split evenly—50% "yes," 50% "no."

Question 12: If not [answering "no" to question 11], do you consider the Hellenic issues important for you to encourage your U.S. Representative to join the Congressional Hellenic Caucus and will you do so?

Responses: An overwhelming 91% responded "yes," with only 9% of the survey takers indicating "no."

Conclusions

Although many different conclusions might be drawn from the survey responses, the HCS Survey Team examined the results in an objective fashion and concluded the following:

 

§      The overwhelming majority of survey participants (90%) indicated that these issues were important to them, with over 75% specifying further that their November votes could be influenced by the positions of the candidates on these issues.

§      The respondents were committed enough to the specified issues to express a willingness (65%) to write a letter to one of the major presidential candidates.

§      Over 50% of the respondents indicated an awareness of the existence of the Congressional Caucus on Hellenic Issues and a willingness to encourage their Congressional Representative to join the caucus.

§      Over 90% indicated they were aware of the genocide(s) which took place in Anatolia starting in 19908 when the Neo-Turks took over.

 A Select Sampling of Respondents' Comments

  §      "We need to form more effective district lobbies in most congressional districts. We also need more AHIPAC seminars on the issues in every Greek community [in order] to mobilize and educate the Greek-Americans about the issues." [Independent from California who offered to help]

§      "I am of Turkish descent. The flip side of the coin is that we feel these issues, however valid they may be towards Greeks or Armenians, encourage racism towards us as Turkish-Americans and discrimination towards Turkish people in general. There are better ways to deal with these matters than through Congress. Since I did take time to answer your questions, you should not throw them out of your survey. We are all after all 'Americans.'" [Democrat from Pennsylvania]

§      "I am and have been very sympathetic to Greek issues, however, I am a citizen of the USA and my vote strictly is based on the safety and well being of this nation's citizens."

§      "I suggest that you [HCS] send out email that we can forward to other friends [and] Hellenes who would like to go to this site and vote on these issues. This is very good!! Congratulations for doing this. Thank you so much. [Republican from New Hampshire]

§      "a) My Representative (Henry Waxman) is a member of the Hellenic Caucus. However, I believe he is also a member of the Turkish Caucus. What is AHI doing in such cases?

b) What is AHI doing to promote policy changes in the US State Department? Are we (as a Hellenic community) providing scholarships to students with the intent for them to enter foreign service and, hence, influence US foreign policy?

c) In everything we do (as a Hellenic community), it seems that we are reacting rather than acting.

d) It is vitally important that big-money Greeks collude their efforts. There are so many organizations and people whose actions are not coordinated. Do we really need so many groups? It does not how cohesion and power." [Independent from California]

§      "I would like to see support from HEC for H.R. 594/S. 349 to repeal the WEP (Windfall Elimination Provision) that cheats workers out of the Social Security benefits they have paid into. Congress can pass legislation to repeal the WEP. For example, Representatives McKeon (R-CA) and Berman (D-CA) and Senators Feinstein (D-CA) and Collins (R-ME) have introduced bills (H.R. 594/S. 349) to repeal the WEP. See the URL concerning this issue at http://www.nea.org/lac/socsec/wepfact.html among other sites. Thank you, Vasilis Kirikos (Bill Herald)" [Democrat from Maryland]

§      "We need to focus on making Greece amore powerful country. We all hope that they keep the momentum from the Euro world cup victory and the super success of the Olympics. Greece and Greek diaspora around the world (primarily Greek-Americans) should work hard to improve the economy of Greece. Even though the Olympics was a success, it was done under massive pressure and time constraints. Imagine if Greece worked at the highest levels of efficiency without massive pressure?

The trait of a Greek being independent is both a blessing and a curse. Let's us have some workshops/seminars on how we can keep our "independence" but learn how we can work together.

There is not doubt that the world fears Greece and its people, as to what great things they can accomplish if they worked together.

The military must be made stronger and yes, Greece push for aid but also do what it must do what it can on its own to build its own military." [Independent from California]

§      "Greek-Americans should support included Turkey in the EU. A Europeanized Turkey is the best hope for a full Turkish troop withdrawal from Cyprus, the reopening of the seminary in Constantinople, and would allow Greeks to move back to the former capital of the Byzantine Empire (and perhaps persuade the European Commission to push for Agia Sophia to reopen as a cathedral)." [Independent from Washington, D.C.]

 The HCS Survey Team would like to thank the American Hellenic Institute of Washington, DC for offering survey questions and background information for discussion. Thanks are due the Pan-Macedonian Association, Inc. for their active participation in publicizing the survey and in offering background information and survey questions. Most importantly, however, HCS would like to express their appreciation to all of the people who took the time to take the survey and pen their comments.