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American Voices: Bush, Elections, Right to Die
Aired October 28, 2003 - 14:41 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: How is this week's rash of suicide bombings in Iraq affecting the way Americans view the war, the president and possibly even politics? On today's "American Voices," Frank Newport, editor-in-chief of the Gallup Poll joins us from Princeton, New Jersey.
Hi, Frank. Well are Americans have been disillusioned with the situation in Iraq?
FRANK NEWPORT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, GALLUP POLL: They have been, Kyra. I want to show you a comparison from April to right now, which is symptomatic of what we have been tracking for months.
Back in April we said, how would you rate U.S. handling of the situation it Iraq? You can see, 80 percent approved. Now we finished over the weekend down to 47. Actually a slightly higher percent, half of Americans, say they disapprove of how the U.S. is handling it.
That's what we've been seeing. All of our indicators about how things have been going in Iraq have been quite low over the last month and remain that way over the weekend.
Now Bush's job approval rating itself, on our weekend poll, 53 percent. That's the number. Kind of up and down. We had commented that his number had fallen to 50 percent, that's the lowest of his entire administration in September. Then back up to 55, 36. Now back down a little. Fifty percent's kind of a magic point for an incumbent president. So far, he's above it, not by much.
PHILLIPS: Is this having an impact on the 2004 election?
NEWPORT: It does. Everything, of course, comes back to the election. I like to say no front-runner at this point.
Look what we're talking about. Bush, would you vote for Bush or would you vote for the Democratic candidate, whoever he or she might be? This is how we've tracked that among registered voters nationally. Notice the gap, Bush over the Democrat, was pretty high in August. But now we're down to just a few points, 46 to 43 points. Basically tied if the election were held today.
Among Democrats, who do you want to be your party's nominee? Now this isn't New Hampshire, this isn't Iowa or South Carolina. This is nationally. They are all tied, bunched together here.
A little shuffling, Clark, Wesley Clark, retired general, had been higher. He has gradually been coming down. Dean is ahead by one point. But in the broader picture, Kyra, all of these gentlemen are virtually tied. No clear front runner.
PHILLIPS: All right, well let's shift for just a moment, Frank, and get a read on how Americans see the Schiavo case in Florida. Do they agree with the state's move to resume feeding Terri Schiavo?
NEWPORT: No, they don't. I should say that based on our questioning. That's a complex situation and it's impossible to encapsulate it in one question. So what we did is ask, should a spouse have the right to end the life of his or her spouse if they're in a persistent vegetative state?
That's the wording we used and based on that phraseology, 80 percent of Americans say, yes. So clearly they would side with the husband in the case, at least based on how we look at it.
Other data we had show the same thing, Kyra. Majority of Americans support doctor-assisted suicide and a variety of things along the same lines.
PHILLIPS: Frank Newport, 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 October 28, 2003 - 14:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: How is this week's rash of suicide bombings in Iraq affecting the way Americans view the war, the president and possibly even politics? On today's "American Voices," Frank Newport, editor-in-chief of the Gallup Poll joins us from Princeton, New Jersey.
Hi, Frank. Well are Americans have been disillusioned with the situation in Iraq?
FRANK NEWPORT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, GALLUP POLL: They have been, Kyra. I want to show you a comparison from April to right now, which is symptomatic of what we have been tracking for months.
Back in April we said, how would you rate U.S. handling of the situation it Iraq? You can see, 80 percent approved. Now we finished over the weekend down to 47. Actually a slightly higher percent, half of Americans, say they disapprove of how the U.S. is handling it.
That's what we've been seeing. All of our indicators about how things have been going in Iraq have been quite low over the last month and remain that way over the weekend.
Now Bush's job approval rating itself, on our weekend poll, 53 percent. That's the number. Kind of up and down. We had commented that his number had fallen to 50 percent, that's the lowest of his entire administration in September. Then back up to 55, 36. Now back down a little. Fifty percent's kind of a magic point for an incumbent president. So far, he's above it, not by much.
PHILLIPS: Is this having an impact on the 2004 election?
NEWPORT: It does. Everything, of course, comes back to the election. I like to say no front-runner at this point.
Look what we're talking about. Bush, would you vote for Bush or would you vote for the Democratic candidate, whoever he or she might be? This is how we've tracked that among registered voters nationally. Notice the gap, Bush over the Democrat, was pretty high in August. But now we're down to just a few points, 46 to 43 points. Basically tied if the election were held today.
Among Democrats, who do you want to be your party's nominee? Now this isn't New Hampshire, this isn't Iowa or South Carolina. This is nationally. They are all tied, bunched together here.
A little shuffling, Clark, Wesley Clark, retired general, had been higher. He has gradually been coming down. Dean is ahead by one point. But in the broader picture, Kyra, all of these gentlemen are virtually tied. No clear front runner.
PHILLIPS: All right, well let's shift for just a moment, Frank, and get a read on how Americans see the Schiavo case in Florida. Do they agree with the state's move to resume feeding Terri Schiavo?
NEWPORT: No, they don't. I should say that based on our questioning. That's a complex situation and it's impossible to encapsulate it in one question. So what we did is ask, should a spouse have the right to end the life of his or her spouse if they're in a persistent vegetative state?
That's the wording we used and based on that phraseology, 80 percent of Americans say, yes. So clearly they would side with the husband in the case, at least based on how we look at it.
Other data we had show the same thing, Kyra. Majority of Americans support doctor-assisted suicide and a variety of things along the same lines.
PHILLIPS: Frank Newport, 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
