Sympathy Is Scarce for Martha Stewart

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- Household style maven Martha Stewart's public reputation has gone from good to bad over the alleged ImClone Systems insider trading scandal, resulting in a dearth of sympathy for her as she now faces criminal charges over an alleged cover-up of the matter. According to a June 9-10 Gallup survey, only 34% of Americans have any degree of sympathy for Stewart, which is about the same percentage holding a favorable view of her personally. Furthermore, most Americans tend to believe she obstructed the federal investigation into this stock trade.

For someone who may soon find herself looking for a sympathetic jury, these results could spell trouble for Stewart. On the other hand, the number of people with at least some sympathy for her outnumbers the percentage that appears to be relishing her devastating setback. Of the one-third of Americans who are sympathetic toward Stewart, 6% are "very sympathetic" and another 28% are "somewhat sympathetic." At the far negative end of the scale, 29% are "very unsympathetic" while about a third are "somewhat unsympathetic."

Based on What You Know and Have Seen in the News, How Do You Feel Toward Martha Stewart?

June 9-10, 2003

The poll does have one piece of good news for Stewart. Of the 43% of Americans who report having bought Martha Stewart products, 78% tell Gallup they are no less likely now to buy her products.

Unfavorables More Than Triple Since Before ImClone Revelations

Indications of the trouble to come for Stewart were revealed a year ago, when a congressional investigation into her sale of nearly 4,000 shares of ImClone Systems stock -- one day before the Food and Drug Administration rejected ImClone's first application to market the aspiring cancer drug Erbitux -- was first reported. Stewart's favorable rating tumbled from 49% (recorded in October 1999) to 30% in July 2002 (one month after the stock sale was reported). At the same time, her unfavorable rating rose significantly, from 16% to 39%. In the next reading, in September, her favorable rating remained at roughly the 30% level, but her unfavorable rating again rose sharply, to 53%. Today's rating is nearly identical to last fall's. The latest survey finds 33% holding a favorable view of her and 52% an unfavorable view.

Opinion of Martha Stewart

Stewart and her attorneys maintain that she did nothing wrong in the ImClone matter, and that her sale of ImClone stock followed a pre-existing arrangement with her stockbroker to sell if the share price fell below $60. Earlier this month she pleaded innocent to five federal charges, including obstruction, and established a Web site detailing her side of the story for the public.

The public is largely skeptical of Stewart's denial, however. Three in four Americans tend to believe that the charges against her for allegedly obstructing the federal investigation into possible insider stock trading are true. Eighteen percent believe the charges are definitely true, and another 57% say they are probably true. Only 3% believe the charges are definitely not true, while another 15% say they are probably not true.

Reaction to Charge That Martha Stewart Obstructed Insider Trading Investigation

June 9-10, 2003

Most Americans also reject the suggestion that Stewart is being unfairly targeted because she is a successful businesswoman -- one of four theories her attorneys advance in their June 4 statement on her public relations Web site, www.marthatalks.com:

Why then has the government, after nearly a year and a half, chosen to file these charges? Is it for publicity purposes because Martha Stewart is a celebrity? Is it because she is a woman who has successfully competed in a man's business world by virtue of her talent, hard work and demanding standards? Is it because the government would like to be able to define securities fraud as whatever it wants it to be? Or is it because the Department of Justice is attempting to divert the public's attention from its failure to charge the politically connected managers of Enron and WorldCom who may have fleeced the public out of billions of dollars?

Only 35% of Americans believe Stewart is being unfairly targeted in this probe because she is a successful woman. This is nearly identical to the number who believe she has received unfair treatment for being a successful businessperson (36%).

June 9-10, 2003

The magnitude of this scandal within American culture is indicated by a Gallup Poll question that documents Stewart's past commercial success. According to the new poll, very close to half of all American adults (43%) report having purchased a Martha Stewart product at some time -- either a book, a magazine, or merchandise. This includes more than half of all women, and more than a quarter of all men.

Have You Ever Bought a Martha Stewart Product?

June 9-10, 2003

The good news for Stewart is that most of these adults appear to be no less likely to buy her products today than they were previously. Only 19% of this group says it is less likely to buy, while 78% are not. A small number, 1%, volunteers that it is now more likely to buy her products.

Martha's Constituency

Public opinion of Stewart is fairly consistent across the population, but there are a few differences worth noting. Women are slightly more favorable toward her than are men: 37% of women have a favorable view of her, compared with 30% of men. Minority groups view Stewart more favorably than do whites, and are more likely to accept the argument that she has been targeted for unfair treatment. For instance, 48% of nonwhites, versus 32% of whites, say she is being treated unfairly because she is a successful woman.

Perhaps the most significant gulf in attitudes toward Stewart is according to age, with young adults being the most critical of her and seniors the most supportive. Only 29% of adults aged 18-29 have a favorable opinion of Stewart, compared with 40% of those 65 and older -- an 11-point gap. There is a 20-point gap between the two groups in opinion about the accuracy of the obstruction charges filed against her, and a 24-point gap in sympathy for her.

Middle-aged adults -- those falling between 30 and 64 years of age -- are closer to young adults than to seniors on these questions.

Views About Martha Stewart by Age
	18-29	30-49	50-64	65+
Opinion of Stewart:	%	%	%	%
Favorable	29	34	31	40
Unfavorable	59	51	56	43
Reaction to Her Situation
Sympathetic	23	35	31	47
Unsympathetic	73	61	63	45
Opinion of Obstruction Charges:
True	82	78	78	62
Not true	10	18	15	27
Not sure	8	4	7	11

Survey Methods

These results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,029 adults, 18 years and older, conducted June 9-10, 2003. 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 ±3 percentage points. For results based on the sample of 460 adults who have ever bought Martha Stewart's books, magazines, or products for the home, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±5 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 have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Martha Stewart, or have you never heard of her?

 

		Favorable	Unfavorable	Never heard of	No opinion
		%	%	%	%
2003 Jun 9-10		33	52	3	12
2002 Sep 23-26 ^		29	53	4	14
2002 Jul 5-8		30	39	7	24
2002 Jun 17-19		46	27	9	18
1999 Oct 21-24		49	16	13	22
^	Asked as part of a larger list.

Do you have a very [favorable/unfavorable] opinion, or somewhat [favorable/unfavorable]?

COMBINED RESPONSES (Q.5-6)

 

	Very favor- able	Somewhat favorable	Somewhat unfavorable	Very unfavor- able	No opin- ion
2003 Jun 9-10	9%	24	32	20	15

Do you personally believe the charges that Martha Stewart obstructed a federal investigation into possible insider stock trading are -- [ROTATED: definitely true, probably true, probably not true, (or) definitely not true]?

 

	Definitely true	Probably true	Probably not true	Definitely not true	No opinion
2003 Jun 9-10	18%	57	15	3	7

Based on what you know and have seen in the news, how do you feel toward Martha Stewart -- very sympathetic, somewhat sympathetic, somewhat unsympathetic, or very unsympathetic?

 

	Very sympa- thetic	Some- what sympa- thetic	Some- what unsympa- thetic	Very unsympa- thetic	No opin- ion
2003 Jun 9-10	6%	28	32	29	5

Regardless of whether the charges are true, do you think Martha Stewart is being treated unfairly because she is a successful woman, or not?

BASED ON -- 504 -- NATIONAL ADULTS IN FORM A

 

	Yes, is	No, is not	No opinion
2003 Jun 9-10	35%	60	5

Regardless of whether the charges are true, do you think Martha Stewart is being treated unfairly because she is a successful business person, or not?

BASED ON -- 525 -- NATIONAL ADULTS IN FORM B

 

	Yes, is	No, is not	No opinion
2003 Jun 9-10	36%	57	7

Have you, personally, ever bought any of Martha Stewart's books, magazines, or products for the home, or not?

 

	Yes	No	No opinion
2003 Jun 9-10	43%	56	1

Would you say you are now less likely to buy Martha Stewart's products, or not?

BASED ON -- 460 -- ADULTS WHO HAVE BOUGHT MARTHA STEWART'S BOOKS, MAGAZINES, OR PRODUCTS FOR THE HOME

 

	Yes, less likely	No, not less likely	MORE LIKELY (vol.)	No opinion
2003 Jun 9-10	19%	78	1	2
(vol.) Volunteered response

COMBINED RESPONSES (Q.34-35)

 

	2003 Jun 9-10
	%
Yes, bought Martha Stewart's products	43
(Less likely to buy Martha Stewart's products now)	(8)
(Not less likely to buy Martha Stewart's products now)	(35)
(Unsure)	(*)
No, never bought Martha Stewart's products	56
No opinion	1
* Less than 0.5%