Editor's note: Ken Ballen is president of Terror Free Tomorrow: The Center for Public Opinion, a nonprofit institute that researches attitudes toward extremism. Patrick Doherty is deputy director of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation, a think tank that promotes ideas across the ideological spectrum. Kenneth Ballen says whoever won the election, Iranians strongly favor free elections and a free press. (CNN) -- In a poll conducted three weeks before Iran's June 12 vote, our nonprofit organizations found a consensus among Iranians, including almost all of those who told us they would vote for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. And that consensus is that Iranians want a truly democratic system.
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Ballen, Doherty: Iranians, including Ahmadinejad backers, want more democracy
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They say their poll can't determine whether Moussavi had a late surge
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They say government actions have shifted debate to democracy not to who won
It does not predict the final vote, nor does it measure a possible surge for @placeholder, which many believe occurred in the final weeks.