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NATIONAL ISSUES CONVENTION DELIBERATIVE POLL REVEALS SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN DELEGATES' VIEWS ON KEY ISSUES

--Public opinion on flat tax, states' role in family welfare and foreign intervention shift dramatically--

Washington, DC -- January 25, 1996 -- Organizers of the National Issues Convention (NIC) today announced that the results of the deliberative poll reveal major shifts in public opinion on several key presidential campaign issues; the economy, the family and foreign policy. The 459 delegates who attended the Convention at the University of Texas at Austin last weekend showed a significant change from their original response to questions on the flat tax proposal -- the favorable rating fell from 43.5% to 29.8%; on whether the safety-net for low-income Americans should be turned over to the states -- those in favor of increased state involvement grew to 62.5% from 49.5%; -- and whether the United States should engage in military cooperation with other nations to address trouble spots -- those strongly agreeing increased to 37.7% from 20.8%.

The NIC delegates, a statistically representative cross-section of the national electorate, were polled both before and after they had the opportunity to deliberate on key issues facing the nation. The participants also questioned Republican presidential candidates, including Senators Phil Gramm and Richard Lugar, former Governor Lamar Alexander and businessman Steve Forbes, in a live PBS broadcast Saturday, January 20. Vice President Al Gore met with the delegates during a live PBS broadcast on Sunday, January 21. Both broadcasts were moderated by Jim Lehrer of the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. A third and final wrap-up program airing on PBS stations Friday, January 26, will feature more detailed analysis of the deliberative poll results.

"This experiment provided a window on America," said James Fishkin, originator of the deliberative poll and executive director of the NIC. "The whole country dealt with the issues in one room. While delegates changed their opinions on some issues as they learned about other people's lives, their core beliefs and values remained firm. The political process would benefit from more serious dialogue with voters and less misleading advertising and slick sound bites."

Additional significant changes in delegates' opinions include:

The Economy

• The average worker does not receive a fair day's pay for a fair day's work - the percentage of delegates who strongly agree with this statement increased to 40.4% from 26.6%.

• Is the amount the United States is spending on education and training adequate - the percentage of delegates who believed "too little" was spent increased to 86.3% from 71.9%.

The Family

• Is economic pressure the biggest problem for the American family - the percentage of delegates who believe this to be true increased to 50.7% from 35.5%.

• Would making a divorce harder to get strengthen the family in this country - the percentage of delegates who feel this would be useful increased to 56.7% from 36.1%.

Foreign Affairs

• Should the federal government cut or reduce the growth of spending on foreign aid to decrease the federal budget deficit - the percentage of delegate who believed it should not cut or reduce foreign aid increased to 20.6% from 9.3%.

• Would the country be better off if we just stayed at home and did not concern ourselves with problems in other parts of the world - the percentage of delegates who strongly disagreed increased to 47.8% from 33.7%.

  While many statistically significant changes occurred during the deliberative poll, attitudes on other issues did not shift. For example, delegate response remained the same both before and after deliberation on the following:

• The economy can run only if businesses make good profits. That benefits everyone in the end - more than 80% of the delegates agreed with this statement both before and after deliberation.

• Is there a breakdown in traditional families or are families just finding new forms - both before and after deliberation the percentages remained the same...the percentage of those who agreed that there was a breakdown averaged roughly 68% while the percentage of those who believed families were finding new forms averaged 27.5%.

• With the end of the Cold War, should the United States shift resources back home to help its own economy - the percentage of delegates who selected this statement remained roughly 72.8%.

The focal point of the Convention was the "deliberative poll," a new method of public opinion research. Unlike ordinary surveys, which offer only a snapshot of what the public is thinking, the deliberative poll shows what citizens think about the issues as they become more informed about them through discussion. NIC delegates participated in small-group discussions led by trained moderators provided by the National Issues Forum, a non-partisan network of citizen organizations that regularly convenes deliberative forums on a wide range of issues. Written discussion guides were prepared by Public Agenda with the Kettering Foundation. A bi-partisan committee of former government, officials, chaired by former U.S. Representatives Bill Frenzel and the late Barbara Jordan, reviewed all of the materials. The poll research and delegate recruiting were conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) of the University of Chicago.

The NIC is a major component of the Democracy Project, a special PBS multimedia initiative offering a fresh approach to news and public affairs programming, with an emphasis on election coverage. Building upon PBS's traditional strengths of in-depth programming and diversity of viewpoints, the Democracy Project focuses on the power of the deliberative process rather than the pervasive sound bite.

The broadcast was produced by the MacNeil/Lehrer Productions. The National Issues Convention was co-sponsored by the University of Texas at Austin and the nation's Presidential Libraries. Major funding and in-kind support were provided by Freddie Mac (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation), the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Southwestern Bell, American Airlines, and the City of Austin. PBS underwrote television coverage of the event.