JULY 15, 2013 Wider Race Gap in Interest than for Rodney King, O.J. Simpson Modest Public Interest in Close of Zimmerman Trial FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT THE PEW RESEARCH CENTER FOR THE PEOPLE & THE PRESS Michael Dimock Director Carroll Doherty Associate Director Rob Suls Research Associate 1615 L St, N.W., Suite 700 Washington, D.C. 20036 Tel (202) 419-4350 Fax (202) 419-4399 www.peoplepress.org Wider Race Gap in Interest than for Rodney King, O.J. Simpson Modest Public Interest in Close of Zimmerman Trial The final days of the trial of George Zimmerman, which concluded July 13 with a verdict of not guilty, attracted relatively modest public interest overall. In a weekend survey, 26% say they were following news about the trial very closely. This is lower than interest in the initial controversy over Trayvon Martin’s shooting when it erupted last year. In March 2012, 35% said they followed news about Martin’s shooting very closely. However, the story has consistently attracted far more interest among blacks than whites – and that remained the case in the trial’s final days. Blacks are more than twice as likely as whites to say they tracked news about the Zimmerman trial very closely (56% vs. 20%). Moreover, fully 67% of blacks say they watched at least some Public Interest in Racially Charged News Stories live coverage of the Zimmerman Percent following very closely… trial, compared with 38% of R. King verdict/riots May '92 70 whites. About one-in-five blacks O.J. Simpson arrested Jun '94 48 (21%) say they watched “almost R. King beating Mar '91 46 all’’ of the trial coverage; just 5% Zimmerman charged Apr '12 35 of whites reported watching Trayvon Martin shooting Mar '12 35 almost all of it. Henry L. Gates arrested Jul '09 30 Amadou Diallo verdict Mar '00 28 The Pew Research Center survey ZimmermanZimmerman trial trial Jul Jul '13 '13 26 was conducted July 11-14 among O.J. Simpson trial Sep '95 23 1,002 adults. In 237 interviews Jena Six Sep '07 18 conducted July 14, the day after PEW RESEARCH CENTER July 11-14, 2013. the Zimmerman verdict, 29% say they were following news about the trial very closely. The Zimmerman trial and Trayvon Martin shooting have drawn less interest than some other racially charged incidents in recent years, including the riots that followed the Rodney King verdict in 1992 (70% very closely) and O.J. Simpson’s arrest in 1994 (48%). 3 Racial Gap in News Interest Blacks have consistently expressed more interest than Wide Racial Divide in Interest in Trayvon Martin whites in Trayvon Martin’s Shooting, Zimmerman Trial shooting and the prosecution Black- White and trial of George Zimmerman. % following each story Total Black White Diff Currently 56% of blacks and just “very closely”: % % % Trayvon Martin shooting (Mar ’12) 35 70 30 +40 20% of whites say they followed Jena Six (Sep ’07) 18 50 11 +39 news about the trial very closely. Zimmerman trial (Jul ’13) 26 56 20 +36 Zimmerman charged (Apr ‘12) 35 63 30 +33 Racial differences in interest Diallo/NYC police verdict (Mar ’00) 28 57 24 +33 about Martin’s shooting and its Henry L. Gates arrested (Jul ’09) 30 52 27 +25 O.J. Simpson trial (Sep ’95) 23 44 20 +24 aftermath are wider than in Rodney King beating (Mar ’91) 46 66 43 +23 interest in the police beating of O.J. Simpson arrested (Jun ’94) 48 63 46 +17 Rodney King in March 1991, as Rodney King verdict/riot (May ’92) 70 83 69 +14 well as the acquittal of the PEW RESEARCH CENTER July 11-14, 2013. officers and subsequent riots in May 1992. The racial gap in interest in Martin/Zimmerman news also is wider than in O.J. Simpson’s arrest in June 1994 and his trial a year later. However, the racial gaps in interest were as wide in some other recent racially charged stories – including news in 2007 about the “Jena Six” (the prosecution of Louisiana teens involved in a school fight) and the 2000 acquittal of four New York City police officers in the shooting death of Amadou Diallo. www.people-press.org 4 Trial Viewership: Zimmerman vs. O.J Fully 67% of blacks say they watched at least some live coverage of the Zimmerman trial, with 21% saying they watched “almost all” the trial coverage. Just 38% of whites say they watched at least some coverage of Zimmerman’s court proceedings; One-in-Five Blacks Say They Watched only 5% say they watched almost “Almost All” Coverage of Zimmerman Trial all the coverage of the trial. O.J. Simpson George Zimmerman March 1995 July 2013 How much live trial Total White Black Total White Black coverage have you Nearly three times as many watched … % % % % % % whites as blacks say they Almost all/A lot/Some watched no live coverage of the (Net) 53 50 71 42 38 67 Almost all 11 9 24 7 5 21 Zimmerman trial (36% vs. 13%). A lot 13 13 11 10 8 22 Some 29 28 36 25 25 24 About as many blacks reported Hardly any/None (Net) 47 50 29 58 62 33 watching at least some live Hardly any 31 33 20 25 26 20 None 16 17 9 33 36 13 coverage of the Zimmerman trial Don’t know * * * * * 0 as watched the O.J. Simpson 100 100 100 100 100 100 trial in 1995. In March of that PEW RESEARCH CENTER July 11-14, 2013. Whites and blacks are non-Hispanic. year, 71% of blacks said they Figures may not add to 100% because of rounding. watched at least some trial coverage. Whites are far less likely to say they tuned into the Zimmerman trial than the Simpson trial. In March 1995, half of whites said they watched at least some coverage of the Simpson court proceedings; today, 38% say the same about coverage of the Zimmerman trial. www.people-press.org 5 News of the Week While 26% of Americans say they followed news about the Zimmerman trial very closely about as Weekly News Interest many (24%) say they tracked news about a plane % following very closely crash in San Francisco very closely. July 11-14, 2013 Zimmerman trial 26 Among other stories, 18% followed news about the Asiana plane crash 24 debate over immigration policy very closely, while comparable percentages paid very close attention Immigration reform 18 to efforts by Edward Snowden to gain asylum Edward Snowden 16 (16%) and the situation in Egypt (15%). Situation in Egypt 15 Royal baby The “royal baby” attracted very little public 5 interest: Just 5% followed news about about the PEW RESEARCH CENTER. July 11-14, 2013. upcoming birth of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s first baby, one of the lowest levels of interest for any news story this year. In recent years, news about the royals has been very limited, with one notable exception – the death of Princess Diana in 1997. www.people-press.org 6 Zimmerman Trial and Social Media For the entire survey period (July 11-14), 28% of those who use Facebook, Twitter or other social networking sites reported hearing a lot about the Zimmerman trial from these sources. However, the share of social networkers hearing a lot about the trial spiked to 44% on Sunday, the day after the six-person jury found Zimmerman not guilty. In July 2011, a comparable percentage of those The Week’s Stories on who use social network sites (40%) said they heard Social Media a lot about verdict in the Casey Anthony trial from How much seen or A A Nothing Don’t lot little at all know heard about on Facebook, Twitter or other social media sites. SNS or twitter… % % % % Zimmerman trial 28 32 39 1=100 More young social network users than older users Asiana crash 22 37 41 1=100 reported hearing a lot about the Zimmerman trial Edward Snowden 14 34 52 1=100 Royal baby 10 28 61 1=100 from these sources. Among SNS users, about a Egypt 12 35 52 1=100 third (35%) of those under age 30 heard a lot PEW RESEARCH CENTER July 11-14, 2011. Figures may not add to 100% because of rounding. about the Zimmerman trial compared with 23% of Based on those who say they use social networking sites or those 50 and older. Twitter (60% of the total). www.people-press.org 7 About the Survey The analysis in this report is based on telephone interviews conducted July 11-14, 2013, among a national sample of 1,002 adults 18 years of age or older living in the continental United States (502 respondents were interviewed on a landline telephone, and 500 were interviewed on a cell phone, including 268 who had no landline telephone). The survey was conducted by interviewers at Princeton Data Source under the direction of Princeton Survey Research Associates International. A combination of landline and cell phone random digit dial samples were used; both samples were provided by Survey Sampling International. Interviews were conducted in English. Respondents in the landline sample were selected by randomly asking for the youngest adult male or female who is now at home. Interviews in the cell sample were conducted with the person who answered the phone, if that person was an adult 18 years of age or older. For detailed information about our survey methodology, see: http://people-press.org/methodology/. The combined landline and cell phone sample are weighted using an iterative technique that matches gender, age, education, race, Hispanic origin and region to parameters from the 2011 Census Bureau's American Community Survey and population density to parameters from the Decennial Census.