GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- With the calendar year for the U.S. Supreme Court coming to a close, the high court is in the process of announcing a flurry of decisions on some sensitive and high-profile topics. Recent Gallup polls have tested public opinion on the core issues at stake in several of these cases, including those dealing with gay scout leaders, abortion, school prayer, and the rights of criminal suspects.
This week, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the 1966 Miranda ruling that requires police to inform criminal suspects of their constitutional rights against self-incrimination -- including the right to remain silent and the right to be represented by a lawyer. A whopping 94% of Americans agree that police should be required to inform suspects of their rights, while only 6% disagree. At the same time, however, close to half of Americans, 45%, think that confessions obtained without reading suspects their rights should be admissible in trial -- an apparent contradiction of their support for the general principle that these rights must be read. Only 49% say such improperly obtained confessions should not be admissible.
Americans who identify themselves as Republicans are most likely to say that non-"Mirandized" confessions should be admissible in court: 50% express that view, while 42% disagree. By contrast, a majority of independents (51%) and Democrats (57%) think confessions obtained without reading suspects their rights should not be used in trial.
Most Americans Think Prayer in School is OK
Public opinion is less ambiguous with respect to a recent Supreme
Court case dealing with prayer in school. On June 19 the high court
upheld an appeals court decision striking down a Texas school
district policy allowing students to pray over loudspeakers before
home football games. Gallup polling suggests the public disagrees
with the court on this issue. When Americans were asked last year
about a similar issue -- allowing students to say prayers as part
of official school graduation ceremonies -- 83% were in favor of
the practice while just 17% were opposed. The same poll also found
Americans widely supportive of school-sponsored religion --
including "spoken prayer" in the classroom, public display of the
Ten Commandments in schools, and use of the Bible as a text in
school courses.
Public Backs Boy Scouts' Position in Gay Scout
Case
One pending decision sure to make waves whichever
it way it goes deals with the issue of the Boy Scouts of America
and its decision not to allow openly gay men to serve as
scoutmasters. The New Jersey case being reviewed juxtaposes two
important rights: the free-association rights of the Boy Scouts and
the right of homosexuals to be protected against discrimination. It
also involves the extent to which the Boy Scouts is a quasi-public,
rather than private, organization. The poll shows that only 31% of
the public think the Boy Scouts should be required to allow openly
gay adults to serve as scout leaders while 64% think they should
not be required to do so.
Americans Oppose "Partial-Birth" Procedure but Think
Restrictions on Abortion Protestors Are Reasonable
Two
key abortion cases are scheduled to be decided before the Supreme
Court closes for summer recess. One deals with a Nebraska law
making illegal the late-term abortion procedure known as
partial-birth abortion, except in cases necessary to save the life
of the mother. Two-thirds of Americans (66%) think this procedure
should be illegal, with a "life of the mother" exception, while
just 29% think it should be legal.
A second abortion case before the high court deals with the rights of anti-abortion activists to protest near abortion clinics. The case involves the legality of a Colorado law that provides a 100-foot buffer zone around clinics -- within which the rights of protestors to display signs or approach passersby are severely limited. Laws similar to the Colorado law strike 83% of Americans as "reasonable" restrictions, while just 14% say they are unreasonable limits on free speech.
Survey Methods
The latest results shown below
are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national
sample of 1,021 adults, 18 years and older, conducted June 22-25,
2000. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95 percent
confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and
other random effects is plus or minus 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.
Do you think the Boy Scouts of America should or should not be required to allow openly gay adults to serve as Boy Scout leaders?
|
Should be |
Should not be |
No |
|
|
2000 Jun 22-25 |
31% |
64 |
5 |
As you may know, many states require protestors at abortion clinics to stay a specified distance away from the facility at which they are demonstrating. Do you think such restrictions are reasonable or unreasonable restrictions on the protestors' right to free speech?
|
Reasonable |
Unreasonable |
No opinion |
|
|
2000 Jun 22-25 |
83% |
14 |
3 |
When the police arrest someone, do you think the police should or should not be required to inform that person of their constitutional rights?
|
Yes, should be |
No, should not be |
No opinion |
|
|
2000 Jun 22-25 |
94% |
6 |
* |
Do you think confessions obtained from defendants who were not read their constitutional rights when they were arrested should or should not be admissible in trial?
|
Yes, should |
No, should not |
No opinion |
|
|
2000 Jun 22-25 |
45% |
49 |
6 |
If you could vote on this issue directly, would you vote for or against the following: a law which would make it illegal to perform a specific abortion procedure conducted in the last six months of pregnancy known as a "partial-birth abortion," except in cases necessary to save the life of the mother?
|
Vote for/ |
Vote against/Keep procedure legal |
No |
|
|
2000 Mar 30-Apr 2 |
66% |
29 |
5 |
|
2000 Jan 13-16** |
64% |
31 |
5 |
|
1999 Apr 30-May 2 |
61% |
34 |
5 |
|
1998 Jan 16-18** |
61% |
36 |
3 |
|
1997 Mar ** |
55% |
40 |
5 |
|
1996 Apr ** |
57% |
39 |
4 |
** Wording: Do you favor or oppose the following proposal: A law which would make it illegal to perform a specific abortion procedure conducted in the last six months of pregnancy known as a "partial-birth abortion," except in cases necessary to save the life of the mother?
Next I'm going to read a variety of proposals concerning religion and public schools. For each one, please tell me whether you would generally favor or oppose it. First, ... . Next, ... . [RANDOM ORDER]
|
Favor |
Oppose |
No opinion |
|
|
June 25-27, 1999 |
% |
% |
%
|
|
Allowing students to say prayers at graduation ceremonies as part of the official program |
83 |
17 |
* |
|
Making public school facilities available after school hours for use by student religious groups |
78 |
21 |
1 |
|
Allowing public schools to display the Ten Commandments |
74 |
24 |
2 |
|
Using the Bible in literature, history, and social studies classes |
71 |
28 |
1 |
|
Allowing daily prayer to be spoken in the classroom |
70 |
28 |
2 |
|
Teaching creationism along with evolution in public schools |
68 |
29 |
3 |
|
Teaching creationism instead of evolution in public schools * Less than 0.5% |
40 |
55 |
5 |
