09-01-2001

POLLING: Poll Track For September 1, 2001

The Administration


Make the Grade at Home ...


Give President Bush a "B+" for his opening efforts on
education-almost half (49 percent) of adults surveyed by Gallup said that
Dubya will do a better job of improving schools than former President
Clinton did. In the poll, conducted by Gallup Organization Inc. for Phi
Delta Kappa, 33 percent said Bush will do a worse job, 6 percent said his
performance will be the same as Clinton's, and 12 percent didn't know.
There was little difference between the opinions of parents with children
enrolled in public schools and those of people with no children in school.
(6/6/01; 1,108 adults; margin of error plus or minus 3%)


... But Stay Out of Conflicts Abroad


As Bush called on Middle East leaders to stop the violence between
Israelis and Palestinians, a majority of those surveyed by Gallup for CNN
and USA Today said that the United States should not be a key player in
the negotiations to restore peace. Sixty-five percent said the United
States should refrain from taking an active role but encourage the two
sides to find a solution on their own. Thirty-two percent said America
should take an active role in finding a diplomatic solution to the
violence. (8/12/01; 1,017 adults; plus or minus 3%)


Frontiers of Medicine


Stem Cells, Not Clones


Although a majority of Americans generally favor stem-cell research,
cloning gets far less support, a poll for ABC News and Beliefnet finds.
Eighty-seven percent of respondents said it should be illegal in the
United States to clone a human being, and 11 percent said human cloning
should be allowed. Six in 10 also said that cloning human tissue for
medical treatments should be banned. Respondents were less opposed to
cloning animals-59 percent said it should be illegal to clone an animal in
this country, while 37 percent supported it.


The Faith Factor


What ideas most influence Americans' opinions on cloning? A plurality (36
percent) said they were guided by their religious beliefs. Nonreligious
beliefs were the next greatest influence, with 17 percent, followed by
education (16 percent), news reports (15 percent), personal experience (4
percent), and family and friends (3 percent). Ten percent mentioned other
factors or expressed no opinion. (8/12/01; 1,024 adults; margin of error
plus or minus 3%)


* Today's Page-Turner


Nah ... Let's Wait For the DVD


Both Bill and Hillary Clinton have signed book deals. Do you think you
would rather read Bill's book or Hillary's book?


All	D     R     Ind.    Men     Women


Bill's	   19%	   27%	  13%	 17%	24%    14%


Hillary's  17	   20	  17	 12	17     16


Neither    53	   39	  66	 58	50     58


Both	    8	   12	   2	 10	 7	9


Not sure    3	    2	   2	  3	 2	3


(Opinion Dynamics Corp. for Fox News Channel; 8/23/01; 900 registered
voters; plus or minus 3%)


The Economy


Half-Full, or Half-Empty?


Although the Federal Reserve Board recently announced its seventh rate cut
of the year, in yet another attempt to jump-start the nation's economy,
Americans surveyed for ABC News and Money magazine remain unimpressed with
the way things are going. A slim majority (52 percent) expressed a
negative view of the economy-40 percent called it "not good,"
and 12 percent described it is "poor." On the other hand, 48
percent think things are just fine: 46 percent characterized the economy
as "good" and 2 percent called it "excellent."
(8/19/01; 1,018 adults; plus or minus 3%)


Men, Women, and Directions


While the electorate as a whole is divided on the direction the nation is
taking, men and women have distinctly different viewpoints, according to
an Ipsos-Reid poll. Among all respondents, 49 percent said the nation is
"seriously off on the wrong track," while 46 percent said things
in the country are "going in the right direction." Who were the
sample's optimists? Men, by a 14-point margin: 53 percent of men said
things were headed in the right direction, compared with 39 percent of
women. Among the pessimists, 56 percent of women said the nation is
heading in the wrong direction; 42 percent of men agreed. (8/19/01; 1,000
adults; plus or minus 3%)


Deborah L. Acomb

National Journal