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CNN Live At Daybreak
America's Voice: Supreme Reaction
Aired June 24, 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: To some numbers now that will not surprise you. There is a racial split among Americans reacting to the Supreme Court decision.
Live to Gallup Poll editor-in-chief Frank Newport.
Frank, show us the numbers.
FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Well, good morning, Carol.
Indeed, the word "confusion" Bob just used may be what we would say in the American public, and this is a complex area of public opinion. We've studied it a lot. But there's a "Washington Post" headline this morning that says, the decisions mirror public opinion, but I'm not so sure they do.
Let me show you the difference between blacks and whites. This is a straightforward question: Do you favor or oppose affirmative action for racial minorities? The general question, and we can show you the data here, whites, 44 favor but 49 oppose. Split among whites, but actually a plurality oppose. Among blacks, no question, 70 percent favors the concept.
So, right there, you see those two words, "affirmative action," creates some very significant difference as far as public opinion is concerned.
We did attempt to create a question that mirrored the Michigan policy, the undergraduate policy. We asked Americans which they favored: Taking only merit into account in admitting kids to college, or taking race into account. Now the results? Well, whites say it should absolutely be just merit. That kind of goes against one of the decisions yesterday. Blacks split not as much as you might think.
Again, I think here, Carol, the bottom line is white Americans are still not sure they favor the whole idea of affirmative action in general, blacks fairly strong and they say they do.
COSTELLO: Exactly. I want to talk about the presidential race, because we've been talking a lot about that this morning as far as the Democrats are concerned. Who has the early lead?
NEWPORT: Well, it's Lieberman in general. We were interested this past weekend, a lot of the candidates showed up in Chicago with the Reverend Jesse Jackson to try to court the black Democratic vote. Among them, very interestingly it's the Reverend Al Sharpton who actually is No. 1 among black Democrats nationally, way down there at the bottom that that's 24 percent. Lieberman is second among blacks.
Among white Democrats, who would they want to be their nominee? Lieberman, but just by the slightest of edges over Gephardt, and then it's Kerry who follows behind that.
A lot can change, though, on these horse races we've found certainly in past elections -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, you're missing some names, but you couldn't possibly fit them all in, I understand that. Frank Newport, many thanks.
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 June 24, 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: To some numbers now that will not surprise you. There is a racial split among Americans reacting to the Supreme Court decision.
Live to Gallup Poll editor-in-chief Frank Newport.
Frank, show us the numbers.
FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Well, good morning, Carol.
Indeed, the word "confusion" Bob just used may be what we would say in the American public, and this is a complex area of public opinion. We've studied it a lot. But there's a "Washington Post" headline this morning that says, the decisions mirror public opinion, but I'm not so sure they do.
Let me show you the difference between blacks and whites. This is a straightforward question: Do you favor or oppose affirmative action for racial minorities? The general question, and we can show you the data here, whites, 44 favor but 49 oppose. Split among whites, but actually a plurality oppose. Among blacks, no question, 70 percent favors the concept.
So, right there, you see those two words, "affirmative action," creates some very significant difference as far as public opinion is concerned.
We did attempt to create a question that mirrored the Michigan policy, the undergraduate policy. We asked Americans which they favored: Taking only merit into account in admitting kids to college, or taking race into account. Now the results? Well, whites say it should absolutely be just merit. That kind of goes against one of the decisions yesterday. Blacks split not as much as you might think.
Again, I think here, Carol, the bottom line is white Americans are still not sure they favor the whole idea of affirmative action in general, blacks fairly strong and they say they do.
COSTELLO: Exactly. I want to talk about the presidential race, because we've been talking a lot about that this morning as far as the Democrats are concerned. Who has the early lead?
NEWPORT: Well, it's Lieberman in general. We were interested this past weekend, a lot of the candidates showed up in Chicago with the Reverend Jesse Jackson to try to court the black Democratic vote. Among them, very interestingly it's the Reverend Al Sharpton who actually is No. 1 among black Democrats nationally, way down there at the bottom that that's 24 percent. Lieberman is second among blacks.
Among white Democrats, who would they want to be their nominee? Lieberman, but just by the slightest of edges over Gephardt, and then it's Kerry who follows behind that.
A lot can change, though, on these horse races we've found certainly in past elections -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, you're missing some names, but you couldn't possibly fit them all in, I understand that. Frank Newport, many thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
