Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

American Voice: Lott, Gore, Vatican

Aired December 17, 2002 - 06:38   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Across America, it's still all about Lott, Gore and the Vatican. America weighs in with its opinion.
Joining us from Princeton, New Jersey is Gallup Poll editor-in- chief Frank Newport.

Good morning, Frank. What you got for us?

FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Well, good morning, Carol. I thought we would start off with American public opinion on Trent Lott. It seems to be the big story on the cover of both news magazines. You were just talking about it, obviously.

Here's what we're up against. It's not just Trent Lott; it's the Republican Party in general. We went back and summarized our data this fall about the image of the Republican Party -- this is favorable or unfavorable. Look on the left. Among whites: the Republican Party, 57-34, no problem. Among blacks, on the right-hand side look at the image of the party: 30 favorable, 59 unfavorable. That's the kind of image that the GOP in general is dealing with. That's why a lot of people -- Republican leaders may want to avoid the controversy and ask Lott to step down.

We have a new poll in. "The Washington Post" and ABC just published a poll from over the weekend about" Should Trent Lott go? This is our first real evidence from the public. If you're a Republican on the left-hand side, no, he should stay as Senate -- or at least Republican leader, see the 56 percent. Independents are split even. But Democrats across the country say he should go.

I think the key is on the left there, Carol. Republicans nationally, at least so far, sticking behind Lott as Republican leader. These are rank-and-file Republicans -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Not many surprises there. You also have data on pertaining to Al Gore.

NEWPORT: Indeed. One problem Gore had was his image was fading -- these date, of course, before his "Saturday Night Live" appearance. We went all the way back to February, 1991, nobody knew who he was. That's why those numbers are so small. Look at January, '93, Gore's favorable image was pretty good. That's when he was in inaugurated as VP.

Fast forward eight years, January, 2001, after he lost to Gore (sic), he still had a pretty good image, but look at this fall, Gore's image was much more negative, 47 unfavorable, you can see. That's part of Gore's problem.

By the way, Carol, interesting here, we now have Lieberman, Daschle, Gephardt kind of the front runners. Look at history. This means nothing. These are the Democratic front runners 18 months before these nominations. I thought I'd give you a history lesson.

Back in 1960, Adlai Stevenson was ahead at this point. John Kennedy went on to get it, as we know. In 1992, Edmund Muskie was ahead in the polls. That was, George McGovern got the nomination. In 1976, Ted Kennedy way ahead in the polls, and Jimmy Carter came from nowhere to get the nomination. In 1988, Gary Hart was ahead. We all know what happened to him. It was Michael Dukakis. More importantly, in 1992, nobody had heard of Bill Clinton. It was Michael Cuomo -- or Mario Cuomo and Jesse Jackson in the lead for the nomination. Clinton came from nowhere.

All this means is, the front runners now probably bear little relationship to what's going to happen in the nomination in 2004 -- Carol.

COSTELLO: We'll keep that in mind. Thanks so much for that insight. We appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.







Aired December 17, 2002 - 06:38   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Across America, it's still all about Lott, Gore and the Vatican. America weighs in with its opinion.
Joining us from Princeton, New Jersey is Gallup Poll editor-in- chief Frank Newport.

Good morning, Frank. What you got for us?

FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Well, good morning, Carol. I thought we would start off with American public opinion on Trent Lott. It seems to be the big story on the cover of both news magazines. You were just talking about it, obviously.

Here's what we're up against. It's not just Trent Lott; it's the Republican Party in general. We went back and summarized our data this fall about the image of the Republican Party -- this is favorable or unfavorable. Look on the left. Among whites: the Republican Party, 57-34, no problem. Among blacks, on the right-hand side look at the image of the party: 30 favorable, 59 unfavorable. That's the kind of image that the GOP in general is dealing with. That's why a lot of people -- Republican leaders may want to avoid the controversy and ask Lott to step down.

We have a new poll in. "The Washington Post" and ABC just published a poll from over the weekend about" Should Trent Lott go? This is our first real evidence from the public. If you're a Republican on the left-hand side, no, he should stay as Senate -- or at least Republican leader, see the 56 percent. Independents are split even. But Democrats across the country say he should go.

I think the key is on the left there, Carol. Republicans nationally, at least so far, sticking behind Lott as Republican leader. These are rank-and-file Republicans -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Not many surprises there. You also have data on pertaining to Al Gore.

NEWPORT: Indeed. One problem Gore had was his image was fading -- these date, of course, before his "Saturday Night Live" appearance. We went all the way back to February, 1991, nobody knew who he was. That's why those numbers are so small. Look at January, '93, Gore's favorable image was pretty good. That's when he was in inaugurated as VP.

Fast forward eight years, January, 2001, after he lost to Gore (sic), he still had a pretty good image, but look at this fall, Gore's image was much more negative, 47 unfavorable, you can see. That's part of Gore's problem.

By the way, Carol, interesting here, we now have Lieberman, Daschle, Gephardt kind of the front runners. Look at history. This means nothing. These are the Democratic front runners 18 months before these nominations. I thought I'd give you a history lesson.

Back in 1960, Adlai Stevenson was ahead at this point. John Kennedy went on to get it, as we know. In 1992, Edmund Muskie was ahead in the polls. That was, George McGovern got the nomination. In 1976, Ted Kennedy way ahead in the polls, and Jimmy Carter came from nowhere to get the nomination. In 1988, Gary Hart was ahead. We all know what happened to him. It was Michael Dukakis. More importantly, in 1992, nobody had heard of Bill Clinton. It was Michael Cuomo -- or Mario Cuomo and Jesse Jackson in the lead for the nomination. Clinton came from nowhere.

All this means is, the front runners now probably bear little relationship to what's going to happen in the nomination in 2004 -- Carol.

COSTELLO: We'll keep that in mind. Thanks so much for that insight. We appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.