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CNN Live At Daybreak

America's Voice: Reaction to Bush Speech

Aired May 02, 2003 - 06:17   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.


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My fellow Americans, major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.

(CROWD CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN ANCHOR: OK, so how does the American public feel about President Bush's speech you ask?

Well, Gallup Poll Editor-in-Chief Frank Newport has some answers. He joins us live now from Princeton, New Jersey.

Good morning.

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

Indeed, we were out late last night talking to a sample of speech watchers. We should point out, as is always the case, speech watchers tend to be more Republican because it's a Republican president. We found that when Clinton was president, more Democrats watched his speeches.

Nevertheless, let's show you, first of all, how did his speech play? About average for Bush speeches, and that's not bad. We've got the reaction of speech watchers to four different Bush speeches since he's taken office. Last night, 67 percent, that's on the left there, said that the Bush speech was very positive, as far as they were concerned. A lot higher than his State of the Union Address this year in January, a little lower than his State of the Union Address back in January 2002, that was coming off the Afghanistan involvement on the part of the United States, and about where it was his very first speech when he took office. So all in all, pretty good from speech watchers.

Now, is the war over? For all intents and purposes, that's kind of the headline this morning, a lot of Americans still say no, these speech watchers. Before the speech, 52 percent said it was over, for all intents and purposes. After the speech, that was his first line, about the same number said the war was over.

Terrorism, all of the speech data suggests that Americans agree that the war in Iraq helped the war on terrorism. Bush barely mentioned weapons of mass destruction last night, but it really didn't matter among speech watchers, both before and after, that's this tall number here, 79 percent said that the war was justified even if no weapons of mass destruction were found -- Arthel.

NEVILLE: Now, Frank, you know Bush focused on terrorism and war last night. Is that the highest priority for Americans right now, though?

NEWPORT: Well interestingly it's not. And remember these are speech watchers. After the speech last night and seeing him on the Abraham Lincoln and all that, we asked what's the highest priority? And even in that context, given this choice, 46 percent, Arthel, said it's the economy, just 28 percent terrorism, 24 percent both. So it's clear that the economy is becoming rapidly No. 1 issue for Americans.

NEVILLE: All right, Frank Newport, thank you very much.

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 May 2, 2003 - 06:17   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My fellow Americans, major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.

(CROWD CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN ANCHOR: OK, so how does the American public feel about President Bush's speech you ask?

Well, Gallup Poll Editor-in-Chief Frank Newport has some answers. He joins us live now from Princeton, New Jersey.

Good morning.

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

Indeed, we were out late last night talking to a sample of speech watchers. We should point out, as is always the case, speech watchers tend to be more Republican because it's a Republican president. We found that when Clinton was president, more Democrats watched his speeches.

Nevertheless, let's show you, first of all, how did his speech play? About average for Bush speeches, and that's not bad. We've got the reaction of speech watchers to four different Bush speeches since he's taken office. Last night, 67 percent, that's on the left there, said that the Bush speech was very positive, as far as they were concerned. A lot higher than his State of the Union Address this year in January, a little lower than his State of the Union Address back in January 2002, that was coming off the Afghanistan involvement on the part of the United States, and about where it was his very first speech when he took office. So all in all, pretty good from speech watchers.

Now, is the war over? For all intents and purposes, that's kind of the headline this morning, a lot of Americans still say no, these speech watchers. Before the speech, 52 percent said it was over, for all intents and purposes. After the speech, that was his first line, about the same number said the war was over.

Terrorism, all of the speech data suggests that Americans agree that the war in Iraq helped the war on terrorism. Bush barely mentioned weapons of mass destruction last night, but it really didn't matter among speech watchers, both before and after, that's this tall number here, 79 percent said that the war was justified even if no weapons of mass destruction were found -- Arthel.

NEVILLE: Now, Frank, you know Bush focused on terrorism and war last night. Is that the highest priority for Americans right now, though?

NEWPORT: Well interestingly it's not. And remember these are speech watchers. After the speech last night and seeing him on the Abraham Lincoln and all that, we asked what's the highest priority? And even in that context, given this choice, 46 percent, Arthel, said it's the economy, just 28 percent terrorism, 24 percent both. So it's clear that the economy is becoming rapidly No. 1 issue for Americans.

NEVILLE: All right, Frank Newport, thank you very much.

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