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America's Voice: Behind Bush?

Aired February 25, 2003 - 06:37   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: War, of course, is on the minds of most Americans these days. The question now is: How many support it, especially after that second U.N. resolution?
Gallup Poll editor-in-chief Frank Newport joins us live with some answers and insights. Give us the numbers, Frank.

FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Good morning, Carol.

Well, George W. Bush is not in as much trouble in the U.S. as Blair is over in Great Britain. In fact, his approval rating at 58 percent is still fairly solid.

A couple of points I would make here. First of all, support for the idea of military action in Iraq remains in the majority territory among the American public. Here's this measure we've tracked over 20 times over the last decade. That top line is the percent who favor the general concept. You can see that 63 percent peak actually came after Colin Powell's U.N. speeches, now down to 59 percent, but that's still solid.

A lot of other polls are out there showing that if you say: But should the U.S. wait for a second U.N. resolution? The public generally will say yes and move in that direction, but basic support is here.

In fact, I thought I would take you back and look historically at what happened in 1991, the day the U.S. went to war. Well, this was the same level of support, was at 55 percent there right before the war, very similar to that 59 I just showed you. Then it bounced all the way up to 80 and 79 percent right after the U.S. went to war against Iraq.

All of that by way of showing you, Carol, that there will be a rally effect, we hypothesize, if and when there is war. Public support will be there at least in the short term.

COSTELLO: OK, let's talk about rally talk of another kind, because during this whole crisis, gas prices have gone up, and a lot of people believe that the gas companies, the oil companies are just gouging us because of possible war talk. Do you have any statistics on that?

NEWPORT: Indeed, and you just took the words right out of the consumers' mouth. The American public doesn't buy the argument that it's the possible war in Iraq or Venezuela or what have you for those behind that rise in the price of gas at the pump. It's the oil companies, the profit motive 66. Just 31 percent say it's market conditions. Well, a lot of cynicism out there about the prices.

The good news, the consumer thinks this is temporary, unlike what happened a couple of years when we asked it, when Americans were more likely to say it was permanent, that's that 56 percent in May of 2001. Now just 36 percent say these prices are permanent. Six out of 10 say they're temporary, so the prices should come down at some point, so tell us from the consumers.

COSTELLO: Well, we hope the consumers are right this time around. Frank Newport, many thanks to you.

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 February 25, 2003 - 06:37   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: War, of course, is on the minds of most Americans these days. The question now is: How many support it, especially after that second U.N. resolution?
Gallup Poll editor-in-chief Frank Newport joins us live with some answers and insights. Give us the numbers, Frank.

FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Good morning, Carol.

Well, George W. Bush is not in as much trouble in the U.S. as Blair is over in Great Britain. In fact, his approval rating at 58 percent is still fairly solid.

A couple of points I would make here. First of all, support for the idea of military action in Iraq remains in the majority territory among the American public. Here's this measure we've tracked over 20 times over the last decade. That top line is the percent who favor the general concept. You can see that 63 percent peak actually came after Colin Powell's U.N. speeches, now down to 59 percent, but that's still solid.

A lot of other polls are out there showing that if you say: But should the U.S. wait for a second U.N. resolution? The public generally will say yes and move in that direction, but basic support is here.

In fact, I thought I would take you back and look historically at what happened in 1991, the day the U.S. went to war. Well, this was the same level of support, was at 55 percent there right before the war, very similar to that 59 I just showed you. Then it bounced all the way up to 80 and 79 percent right after the U.S. went to war against Iraq.

All of that by way of showing you, Carol, that there will be a rally effect, we hypothesize, if and when there is war. Public support will be there at least in the short term.

COSTELLO: OK, let's talk about rally talk of another kind, because during this whole crisis, gas prices have gone up, and a lot of people believe that the gas companies, the oil companies are just gouging us because of possible war talk. Do you have any statistics on that?

NEWPORT: Indeed, and you just took the words right out of the consumers' mouth. The American public doesn't buy the argument that it's the possible war in Iraq or Venezuela or what have you for those behind that rise in the price of gas at the pump. It's the oil companies, the profit motive 66. Just 31 percent say it's market conditions. Well, a lot of cynicism out there about the prices.

The good news, the consumer thinks this is temporary, unlike what happened a couple of years when we asked it, when Americans were more likely to say it was permanent, that's that 56 percent in May of 2001. Now just 36 percent say these prices are permanent. Six out of 10 say they're temporary, so the prices should come down at some point, so tell us from the consumers.

COSTELLO: Well, we hope the consumers are right this time around. Frank Newport, many thanks to you.

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