Americans Say Bush Daughters Are No Worse Than Their Peers

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- Almost two weeks since the press first reported that President Bush's twin 19-year-old daughters -- Jenna and Barbara -- were cited by police in connection with attempts to buy alcohol with false identification, a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll shows that Americans overwhelmingly believe what President Bush's daughters did was no worse than the behavior of most other college students. A slight majority also feel that the news media acted irresponsibly in reporting this story.

Eight in 10 Americans Feel Bush Daughters' Act Like Other College Students

The June 8-10 poll asked Americans how the behavior of Bush's daughters compares to other college students their age. An overwhelming 79% of Americans feel Bush's daughters are acting about the same as their peers. Fifteen percent say Bush's daughters are not behaving as badly as most college students their age, and only 4% say their behavior is worse.

Bush's Daughters' Behavior Compared to Other College Students

Interestingly, there are very few partisan differences on this measure. While Republicans and Democrats are essentially the same in terms of their view that Bush's daughters are behaving about the same as their peers, Republicans are only slightly more likely than Democrats or independents to say Jenna and Barbara Bush are not behaving as badly as their peers, with 18% of Republicans and 13% each of independents and Democrats expressing this view.

One might expect people in the 18-29 year old age group to be somewhat more sympathetic to the behavior of Bush's daughters than people in other age groups. But the poll shows there are no major differences by age. A strong majority of people of all ages says the young women's behavior is about the same as other college students.

News Media: Too Intrusive?

The latest poll asked the American public two questions about the handling of the Bush daughters' story by the news media. One half of respondents were asked whether or not the news media should have reported this matter; the other half were asked if the media acted responsibly or irresponsibly in its handling of the situation. Results are similar, with 54% saying the media should not have reported this matter and the same percent responding that the media acted irresponsibly in this situation. Forty-five percent feel the media should have reported these incidents, and 42% say the media acted responsibly.

News Media Coverage of Bush's Daughters

In general, Gallup polls over the past several years suggest that the public tends to be critical of the news media when they report on personal matters relating to presidents and their families. In 1998, 55% of Americans rated news coverage of the affair between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky as irresponsible, virtually the same percentage who feel that way about the current coverage of the Bush daughters. A clear majority of Americans, on the other hand, felt the news media acted responsibly when covering events such as the death of John F. Kennedy Jr. (75% said "responsible") and the Columbine school shooting in 1999 (67%).

News Media Acting Responsibly or Irresponsibly in Covering News Events?
Situation	Date	Responsibly	Irresponsibly
		%	%
The alleged affair between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky	1998 Jan 28	37	55
President Bush's daughters being issued citations by police in connections with attempts to buy alcohol with false identification	2001 Jun 8-10	42	54
Bill Clinton's investigation and impeachment process	1999 Feb 4-7	48	50
The recent school shootings	2001 Mar 26-28	57	37
The shootings at the school in Littleton, Colorado on April 20, 1999	1999 Apr 26-27	67	29
The death of John F. Kennedy Jr.	1999 Jul 22-25	75	22

Perhaps not surprisingly, the latest polls shows that Republicans and conservatives are more critical of the news coverage surrounding Bush's daughters than are Democrats or liberals. Almost six in 10 Republicans say the news media acted irresponsibly in reporting this story, while Democrats are essentially divided, with 49% saying they were responsible and 47% saying they were irresponsible. There is an 18-percentage point difference between conservatives and liberals among those answering "irresponsibly" in this question, with almost two-thirds of conservatives (63%) and 45% of liberals feeling this way.

Differences by age show the youngest Americans (18-29) and the oldest Americans (65 and older) are more likely than people in any other age group to feel the media acted irresponsibly in reporting this situation. Sixty percent of 18-29 year olds and 58% of people aged 65 and older feel the news media acted irresponsibly, as did 53% of 50-64 years olds and 49% of 30-49 year olds.

Survey Methods

The results below are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,011 adults, 18 years and older, conducted June 8-10, 2001. 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.

As you may know, President Bush's 19-year-old daughters were issued citations by police in connection with attempts to buy alcohol with false identification.

NEXT TWO QUESTIONS SPLIT SAMPLED

Do you think the news media should or should not have reported this matter?

[BASED ON -- 504 -- NATIONAL ADULTS IN FORM A; ±5 PCT. PTS.]

 

	Should	Should not	No opinion
	%	%	%
2001 Jun 8-10	45	54	1

Overall, do you feel the news media have acted responsibly or irresponsibly in this situation?

[BASED ON -- 507 -- NATIONAL ADULTS IN FORM B; ±5 PCT. PTS.]

 

	Responsibly	Irresponsibly	No opinion
	%	%	%
2001 Jun 8-10	42	54	4

Do you think the Bush daughters' behavior has been -- [ROTATED: worse than most college students their age, about the same as most college students their age, (or) not as bad as most college students their age]?

 

	Worse than most	About the same	Not as bad as most	No opinion
	%	%	%	%
2001 Jun 8-10	4	79	15	2