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arris Po 11 THE HARRIS POLL 1995 #61 For Release: Tuesday, October 3, 1995 THE O.J. TRIAL Perceptions, Attitudes, Judgements Still Strongly Polarized by Race But Majorities of Both Whites and Blacks Expect Hung Jury. Marcia Clark and Johnnie Cochran Both Win Good Marks; Judge /to Gets Goodish Marks. Public Equally Split on Whether Prosecution or Defense Did Best Job. Plurality Do Not Think Fuhrman Planted Evidence. by Humphrey Taylor As the O.J. Simpson trial approaches its conclusion and the jury tries to decide on a verdict, public attitudes remain starkly polarized by race. Most Whites and Hispanic Americans think he is guilty; most African Americans think he is innocent. Most blacks think Mark Fuhrman planted evidence; most whites do not. However, most Whites and most African Americans agree that O.J. has had a fair trial and that the most likely outcome is a hung jury. These are some of the findings of a Harris Poll of 1,005 adults surveyed the weekend between September 28th and October Ist, mostly after the two legal teams had presented their final arguments. Louis Harris & Associates 11 1 Fifth Avenue NYC (212) 539-9600 b The main findings of the survey were: By 71%-24% most people believe O.J. has had a fair trial. At other times during the trial feelings were much less positive. Early on, in the fall of last year, less than half the public felt that O.J. was getting a fair trial. A 60%-25% majority believes O.J. is guilty. Among whites, a 68%-17% majority feel this way, but a massive 70%-16% of African Americans think he is innocent. A 58% majority (including majorities of blacks and whites) think 'the jury will not be able to agree. Of the remainder many more think he will be acquitted (28%) than believe he will be convicted (1 1%). The public is split (43%-44%) between those who think the prosecution or the defense teams did the best job. Clearly the public's view is that O.J.'s very expensive "dream team" did not blow the prosecution away. A 49%-40% plurality do not believe that Mark Fuhrman planted evidence to frame O.J. However, by fully 79%-11% most African Americans think that he did so. Prosecutor Marcia Clark and Defense Counsel Johnnie Cochran both get high marks for a job well done. Their ratings on the job they did during the trial are almost identical -- 74%-23% positive for Clark and 73%-23% positive for Cochran. Defense Counsel Barry Scheck won positive, but less positive ratings -- 58% positive 26% negative. Judge Lance Ito's ratings were also positive but he has more critics than the three attorneys. While 58% rate him - positively, a substantial 40% give him negative marks. CAUTION : As with all polls on .the O.J. trial this is a picture of public opinion. It tells us nothing about the jury's opinions. Public attitudes are polarized by race; the jury may or may not be. Humphrey Taylor is the Chairman and CEO of Louis Harris and Associates, Inc. TABLE 1 WILL O.J. GET A FAIR TRIAL? "Do you think O.J. Simpson is getting a fair trial, or not?" 1994 1995 July Sept. Nov. Feb. Mar. June July Sept.3 Now Oh % % % O/o % % Yo O/o Is getting a fair trial Is not getting a fair trial Not sure TABLE 2 IS O.J. SIMPSON GUILTY OR INNOCENT? "Do you think O.J. Simpson is guilty or innocent of murder?" 1994 -His- July Sept. Nov. Feb. Mar. June July Sept.3 Now White Black panic % Yo Yo % % % Yo Yo % Yo Yo Guilty Innocent Not sure TABLE 3 PUBLIC EXPECTATIONS FOR OUTCOME OF TRIAL "Do you think that Simpson will be convicted, that he'll be acquitted, that the jury will not be able to agree?" RACE(N0W) June July Now Whlte Black Hispanic Yo Yo Yo Yo Yo Yo Convicted 5 8 11 9 16 12 Acquitted 16 28 28 29 27 30 Won't agree 21 35 58 59 52 52 Not complete/Run out of jurors 55 23 Not sure 4 6 4 3 4 5 TABLE 4 WHO DID BElTER JOB: PROSECUTION OR DEFENSE? "Overall, who do you think has done the better job of presenting their case in the trial, the prosecution team or the defense team?" SEX RACE Total Male Female White Black Hispanic O/o Yo Yo Yo Yo yo Prosecution done better Defense done better No difference (vol.) Not sure TABLE 5 DID FUHRMAN PLANT EVIDENCE "Do you think former L.A. police detective Mark Fuhrman planted evidence in order to frame, or strengthen the evidence against O.J. Simpson, or not?" Total White Black Hispanic Oh Yo O/o Yo He planted evidence He did not plant evidence Not sure TABLE 6 PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS OF JOB DONE BY JUDGE IT0 AND LAWYERS "How would you rate the job each of the following is doing in the trial -- excellent, pretty good, only fair, or poor?" Pretty Only Not Posi- Nega- ExcellentGood Fair Poor Sure tive* tive" Judge Lance Ito % 21 37 27 13 2 58 40 Prosecutor Marcia Clark Oh 28 46 18 5 3 74 23 Defense Counsel Johnnie Cochran % 30 43 16 7 5 73 23 Defense Counsel Barry Scheck % 16 42 22 4 16 58 26 - - 'Positive - excellent or pretty good. **Negative - only fair or poor. METHODOLOGY This Harris Poll was conducted by telephone within the United States between September 28 and October 1, among a nationwide cross section of 1,005 adults. Figures for age, sex, race, education and number of adults in household were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. In theory, with a sarr~ple of ,this size, one can say with 95 percent certainty that the results have a statistical precision of plus or minus 3 percentage points of what they would be if the entire adult population had been polled with complete accuracy. Unfortunately, there are several other possible sources of error in all polls or surveys that are probably more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. They include refusals to be interviewed (non-response), question wording and question order, interviewer bias, weighting by demographic control data and screening (e.g., for likely voters). It is difficult or impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors. + This statement conforms to the principles of disclosure of National Council on Public Polls. Contact Louis Harris and Associates, Inc., Information Services, 11 1 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10003, (212) 539-9697, for complete demographic details for the questions in this release. Compuserve address: 76702,2063 Other E-mail: [email protected] COPYRIGHT 1995 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC. ISSN 0895-7983 .
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