With most of the publicly debated facts in the WGA-AMPTP dispute coming from one side or the other, its interesting to see what even a half-hearted attempt at honest polling reveals about the strike.

Such is the case with Daily Variety’s reader poll, released Sunday night online and published in Monday’s editions. The original Hollywood trade has come under a great deal of criticism for its coverage of the strike, and this survey is no different with some of the questions phrased a bit, well, oddly and the emphasis in the analyses and interpretations of the answers bordering on the downright bizarre.

The poll, which surveyed 999 Variety subscribers, broke down respondents by sector of the industry and guild affiliation for many of its questions — giving us a glimpse into the broader reaction to the strike among Below the Line folks.

The bottom line is that IATSE members in particular are more hostile to the writers’ position than SAG or the DGA — by a wide margin — and just want to get back to work.

Here are some telling tidbits from the survey, which can be found online here.

• The 70 or so IATSE members who responded to the survey agreed with those who said they worked in production (and were identified later in the survey as “crew”) that the strike was necessary, with 47 percent saying the strike was necessary to 36 percent who disagreed and the rest undecided.
• But when you add the stipulation of whether the strike was necessary “at this time,” IATSE support alone drops like a stone, with 55 percent saying no strike was needed.
• Sixteen percent of all survey respondents say they’ve lost a job due to the strike.
  When it comes to laying blame for crew layoffs, the IATSE members are spreading it around, with 37 percent fingering the AMPTP and 32 percent the WGA. SAG and DGA members side more with the writers, with 65 percent and 52 percent respectively blaming the producers.
• IATSE members are the most distrustful of both sides in the dispute. Thirty percent of IATSE members said neither side is honest or forthright, double the 15 percent of DGA respondents who answered the same way. The same question also shows that slightly more than half of IATSE members think the writers are more honest at 52 percent — again far below the 74 percent for the DGA and even higher marks from SAG and WGA members.
• IATSE respondents’ answers were less supportive of the WGA’s efforts as a union. IATSE members were ambivalent when asked if strike-breaking activities should be reported, with a low among guild respondents at 47 percent saying such activities should be reported, while 32 percent said they don’t know.
• IATSE members, however, were not the leaders in saying the strike will cause them financial loss, with only 75 percent saying it would cause a loss compared to 77 percent for the DGA. Almost none, however, said it would lead to financial gain, as 6 percent of DGA members did. Less than a third of IATSE respondents, the lowest number among the guilds, said the strike would have a negative impact on their career.
• In one of the odder questions, 47 percent of IATSE members said the strike was tactically a mistake for the WGA, compared to 34 percent of DGA respondents.

While it’s nice to have numbers to throw around, we at Below the Line don?t need an expensive survey to tell us what we already know: that IATSE members and crew alike don’t care who’s at fault; all they want is for both sides to work out their issues now so everyone can get back to work.