Americans React to the Don Imus Firing

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- Last week, CBS suspended, and later fired, radio talk show host Don Imus from his radio program after making offensive racial comments on air about the Rutgers women's basketball team. MSNBC, which broadcasts Imus' show on television in the morning, had canceled the program earlier in the week.

A new USA Today/Gallup poll finds only one in five Americans holding a favorable opinion of Imus in the wake of this controversy, while half of Americans have an unfavorable opinion. While most Americans agree that some action should have been taken against Imus, more say he should have been suspended than fired. Very few Americans say CBS should have levied no sanctions against the talk show host. The public is not optimistic that Americans will now become less tolerant of offensive remarks about women and minorities made in the popular media as a result of this controversy.

Opinion of Imus

According to the April 13-15, 2007 poll, 20% of Americans say they have a "very favorable" or "somewhat favorable" opinion of Imus, while 50% say they have a "very unfavorable" or "somewhat unfavorable" opinion. Twenty-nine percent of Americans offer no opinion of the radio talk show host.

Nonwhites are somewhat more negative than whites in their view of Imus. Twenty-four percent of whites rate Imus either very or somewhat favorably, compared with only 7% of all nonwhites (including blacks, Asians, and other racial minorities). His total unfavorable rating is 48% among whites, compared with 56% among nonwhites. A slightly higher percentage of nonwhites than whites express no opinion of Imus.

More than 7 in 10 Americans report that they are following the news about the remarks Imus made about Rutgers' women's basketball team either "very closely" (35%) or "somewhat closely" (37%). Twenty-eight percent are not following the story closely (14%) or at all (14%). This is well above the 60% average for all stories Gallup has measured across the past two decades. Far more Americans are paying attention to this story than the U.S. attorney firings, tested in the same poll.

Imus' Punishment

The poll asked Americans about the appropriate punishment for Imus in this matter:

As you may know, because of the remarks he made, CBS first suspended Imus from his radio show, then later decided to fire him. What do you think CBS should have done in this matter -- fire Imus, suspend Imus, but allow him to return in the future, or should they have not taken any action against him?

While 38% say he should have been fired, a slightly greater percentage, 46%, thought a suspension was the appropriate punishment. Only 9% of Americans say no action was necessary in this matter.

Nonwhites are much more likely than whites to support the decision to fire Imus from his radio show. Fifty percent of nonwhites endorse Imus' termination, while 33% say CBS should have only suspended Imus, and just 4% say the network should have done nothing. This compares with 35% of whites who support firing Imus, 50% who support suspending him, and 10% who support no action against the radio talk show star.

Democrats also are more likely than Republicans to support Imus' firing. Among Republicans, 31% agree with the decision to fire Imus, while 49% say he should have been suspended, and 13% say no action was needed. Democrats are evenly divided as to whether Imus should have been fired (45%) or just suspended (44%), with 5% saying no action should have been taken.

An ABC News/Washington Post poll, conducted April 12-15, 2007, asked a different question about what should have happened to Imus. The ABC News/Washington Post question gave respondents only two alternatives: Imus should have lost his job "for making a racially sensitive or insulting remark about black women basketball players during his program," or that Imus should not have lost his job. Given these two choices, 51% of respondents in that poll said that Imus should have lost his job, while 45% said that he should not.

According to the latest USA Today/Gallup poll, among those following this news story "very closely," 48% say Imus should have only been suspended, while 42% agree with his termination. Ten percent say no action was needed in this matter. This pattern -- where a slightly higher percentage say Imus should have been suspended rather than fired -- is evident among those following the story less closely, but those who are not following it are much more likely to offer no opinion on this topic.

Outlook for the Future

The Imus controversy raised the issue of how women and minorities are described not just by Imus, but on other talk shows, popular music, and other media. But Americans are pessimistic that the Imus controversy will fundamentally change the public's tolerance levels for comments that demean women and minorities.

Only 31% of Americans tell Gallup that, as a result of this incident, Americans will "become less tolerant of offensive remarks about women and minorities made in the popular media." Instead, most Americans, 63%, say this is "just an isolated incident and nothing much will change after the story goes away."

Whites and nonwhites agree in their views on this matter -- 64% of whites and 59% of nonwhites say this is just an isolated incident and that nothing much will change in the future.

Survey Methods

Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,007 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted April 13-15, 2007. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.