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Interview With Gallup Poll's Frank Newport
Aired January 21, 2003 - 14:52 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Time now to check the nation's collective pulse and find out what folks think about the issues of the day. For a look at today's American voice, we turn once again to Frank Newport, editor in chief of the Gallup Poll. Frank, let's talk. With that possible war with Iraq on the horizon, what's the response?
FRANK NEWPORT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, GALLUP POLL: Well, the nation's pulse is a little more feeble than a lot of us would like to see it, Kyra. How is that for following through on your analogy there?
Satisfied with the way things are going in the United States now? That's the question that we've been asking every single month for many years now. I've tracked it for you from January 2002, almost two- thirds back then, still the euphoria after the apparently successful war on terrorism. Look how it's dropped in the last year. And now, on the right-hand side, it is at 42 percent. That's the lowest we've seen it going all the way back to 1996. Not as low as we have had it in history, it's been down to like 12 percent when Jimmy Carter was president. But that 42, very low -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Now, how much of that can be blamed on the Iraq situation?
NEWPORT: Well, quite a bit. There were actually two issues that we think are weighing on Americans' minds. Not shockingly, Iraq, fear of war, and the economy.
Let me show you our most important problem question. We asked Americans to tell us in their own words what is that most important problem? Look at the answers. Worry about war, that 31 percent number is almost double where it was just a couple of months ago, so clearly, that is there. And then the economy, unemployment, and then terrorism.
So again, you put those two together, you can see where the concerns are. The economy really comes through when we ask Americans, our consumer confidence measure, we track every month at Gallup, rate the current economy. Wasn't all that great in October, 28 percent said excellent or good. You can see even that's down. We're now down to just 22 percent of Americans rating the economy excellent or good. On the right hand side there, 28 percent, poor. These are the worst ratings of the economy that we have seen on this measure, Kyra, going all the way back to 1994. So not a pretty picture.
PHILLIPS: Tomorrow is the 30th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion. Where do Americans stand on that? NEWPORT: Well, as we often say, it's a complex set of attitudes about abortion on the part of Americans. Basically, relatively few Americans want abortion totally illegal. So in that sense, they are in line with the Roe decision, but a lot of Americans don't want it totally legal either.
When we asked Americans straight out then, Do you think the 1973 decision was good or bad for the country? On the eve of this anniversary, we had 53 to 30, Americans say good thing rather than bad thing.
And I think that underscores the basic attitudes out there, as I mentioned a moment ago where most Americans are leery of abortion but don't want it made unconstitutional. That is what our data showed -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Finally, Super Bowl around the corner. Is it football or is it baseball that's America's real pastime now, Frank?
NEWPORT: Football is king. No question about that. Not the huge numbers you might think. I pulled up our fan numbers for you. Over half of Americans, more men than women, I should say, are fans of professional football. You know what is No. 2, it's not baseball. Of everything we track, it's figure skating. We've just seen from Dallas those National Championships recently. Forty percent of Americans, a lot of women, say they are fans of figure skating, then college football, and then baseball at 38 percent. Football is king. This is a great week for many Americans -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Our Frank Newport, thank you so 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 January 21, 2003 - 14:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Time now to check the nation's collective pulse and find out what folks think about the issues of the day. For a look at today's American voice, we turn once again to Frank Newport, editor in chief of the Gallup Poll. Frank, let's talk. With that possible war with Iraq on the horizon, what's the response?
FRANK NEWPORT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, GALLUP POLL: Well, the nation's pulse is a little more feeble than a lot of us would like to see it, Kyra. How is that for following through on your analogy there?
Satisfied with the way things are going in the United States now? That's the question that we've been asking every single month for many years now. I've tracked it for you from January 2002, almost two- thirds back then, still the euphoria after the apparently successful war on terrorism. Look how it's dropped in the last year. And now, on the right-hand side, it is at 42 percent. That's the lowest we've seen it going all the way back to 1996. Not as low as we have had it in history, it's been down to like 12 percent when Jimmy Carter was president. But that 42, very low -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Now, how much of that can be blamed on the Iraq situation?
NEWPORT: Well, quite a bit. There were actually two issues that we think are weighing on Americans' minds. Not shockingly, Iraq, fear of war, and the economy.
Let me show you our most important problem question. We asked Americans to tell us in their own words what is that most important problem? Look at the answers. Worry about war, that 31 percent number is almost double where it was just a couple of months ago, so clearly, that is there. And then the economy, unemployment, and then terrorism.
So again, you put those two together, you can see where the concerns are. The economy really comes through when we ask Americans, our consumer confidence measure, we track every month at Gallup, rate the current economy. Wasn't all that great in October, 28 percent said excellent or good. You can see even that's down. We're now down to just 22 percent of Americans rating the economy excellent or good. On the right hand side there, 28 percent, poor. These are the worst ratings of the economy that we have seen on this measure, Kyra, going all the way back to 1994. So not a pretty picture.
PHILLIPS: Tomorrow is the 30th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion. Where do Americans stand on that? NEWPORT: Well, as we often say, it's a complex set of attitudes about abortion on the part of Americans. Basically, relatively few Americans want abortion totally illegal. So in that sense, they are in line with the Roe decision, but a lot of Americans don't want it totally legal either.
When we asked Americans straight out then, Do you think the 1973 decision was good or bad for the country? On the eve of this anniversary, we had 53 to 30, Americans say good thing rather than bad thing.
And I think that underscores the basic attitudes out there, as I mentioned a moment ago where most Americans are leery of abortion but don't want it made unconstitutional. That is what our data showed -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Finally, Super Bowl around the corner. Is it football or is it baseball that's America's real pastime now, Frank?
NEWPORT: Football is king. No question about that. Not the huge numbers you might think. I pulled up our fan numbers for you. Over half of Americans, more men than women, I should say, are fans of professional football. You know what is No. 2, it's not baseball. Of everything we track, it's figure skating. We've just seen from Dallas those National Championships recently. Forty percent of Americans, a lot of women, say they are fans of figure skating, then college football, and then baseball at 38 percent. Football is king. This is a great week for many Americans -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Our Frank Newport, thank you so 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
