|
|
 |
|
 |
 |
| BEYOND THE BELTWAY | |
 January 18, 1999 
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
| Are Americans paying attention? | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
ANDREW KOHUT: No. Margaret, the American public is largely ignoring the Senate trial so far. The percentage of people saying they're following very closely fell from 34 percent in December during the House impeachment vote to 27 percent in the current survey. And when we asked the American public how closely -- how much of the coverage they've been watching, as the slide shows, 15 percent say all or a lot. 34 percent say some, 50 percent hardly any or none. These are very low numbers. Now, that 15 percent, during the O.J. Simpson trial, was at 25 during the slow parts of the trial. That's considerably less. And those are very low numbers. That presentation by the House Managers did not stir the public; it didn't engage them. MARGARET WARNER: And what's their view of how the Senate is handing the trial and handling itself during the trial?
MARGARET WARNER: The House Managers spent a lot of their energy making the case for live witnesses. How does the public feel about that? Do they want to see live witnesses in the Senate? |
||||||||||||||||||||
| The issue of witnesses. | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
MARGARET WARNER: So, has the trial affected at all (a), the way the public feels about the President in general, and two, how they want to see this thing resolved?
MARGARET WARNER: And his personal popularity then remains undiminished, at the same level? ANDREW KOHUT: Very healthy 62 percent. In fact, when we asked people how is he going to be judged, 52 percent say his accomplishments outweigh his failures, just about what the public said about Ronald Reagan at exactly the same time in his second term.
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| A satisfied public. | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
ANDREW KOHUT: Twelve months ago before this scandal broke, we did a comparable poll. We asked the public how satisfied were they with the state of the nation. Only 42 percent said they were satisfied with the way things were going in the country. We asked that same question after 12 months of this. We have a slide here. We get 53 percent. The public is more satisfied one year later. Talk about disconnect. There's the number. MARGARET WARNER: And how about their own lives?
MARGARET WARNER: That is high. ANDREW KOHUT: That's very high -- 35 percent two years ago, that's a 10 percentage point jump since Clinton's second term. And 35 percent is higher than in previous years. So the Americans are largely happy with the way things are going. They are, therefore, happy with conditions in the country, and they remain unfazed and unchanged in their opinions about the scandal. MARGARET WARNER: All right. Well, thank you very much, Andy. ANDREW KOHUT: You're welcome. |
||||||||||||||||||||
 |
        |
|
| Support the kind of journalism done by the NewsHour...Become a member of your local PBS station. | ||
| ||
| PBS Online Privacy Policy Copyright ©1996- MacNeil/Lehrer Productions. All Rights Reserved. | ||
| ||
MARGARET
WARNER: We get that polling information from Andrew Kohut, director
of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. He his most
recent survey was conducted from last Thursday through last night, meaning
it reflects public sentiment during and after the days that the House
Managers presented their case against the President. Andy, are Americans
paying attention to this trial? 
ANDREW
KOHUT: Well, to the extent they have a have given the low numbers, it's
very similar to what we saw during the House impeachment vote. When
we asked the public, are the parties working together? Is the a more
bipartisan effort, we have a slide on this, we largely find people saying,
no, they're mostly bickering. Only 19 percent say they're working together.
When we asked more directly, well, how do you compare the two, the House
effort and the Senate effort, they largely say it's the same. So there's
not some - there's not a sense of difference here; for the public it
still is very, very partisan. 
ANDREW
KOHUT: Before the Senate trial began the polls showed about 60/40 against
live witnesses and a Gallup poll this weekend conducted at the same
time of our survey showed essentially the same thing; no greater sentiment
for house witnesses. Less is more with regard to this trial from the
point of view of the average American. 
ANDREW
KOHUT: Well, to answer, that you could pull old tapes of her time you've
asked that question about every stage here. And, again, we find only
a third of the American public saying that the President should be removed.
I think we have a slide on that. That's almost identical to the percentage
we had in December, and it's been that way for some time. Only 28 percent
want to see him resign. There's no -- there's a very robust two-thirds
of the American public that wants to see the presidency of Bill Clinton
continue. 
MARGARET
WARNER: So on the eve of the State of the Union, how does the public
feel about the country or their life in general? I mean, is there any
sense or any evidence that the fact that there's this trial going on
in Washington is making them feel uncertain or insecure at all? 
ANDREW
KOHUT: Well, underpinning this, that number is a great improved appraisal
of people's own bottom lines. We asked people questions about their
own standard of living, 45 percent say very satisfied.