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THE HARRIS POLL
# 32, July 18, 2001
Jackie
Kennedy Rated Best Among Nine First Ladies since 1960 on 3 out of 4 Criteria
-Less than a third of
Americans feel the first lady should have an influence on government policy-
-First Lady Laura Bush gets better marks than Hillary Rodham Clinton-
by Humphrey
Taylor
As Americans looked back at the nine
first ladies who have occupied the White House since 1960, they chose Jackie
Kennedy as "the best" by a large margin (50%). In addition,
pluralities (42%) also reported that she "best represented the United
States with the rest of the world," and 30 percent also saw her as
"the best role model for women in America."
Former First Lady (now Senator)
Hillary Rodham Clinton leaves a mixed legacy. She leads all the other first
ladies by a wide margin (46%) as "the most intelligent" first lady.
She comes a distant second (14%) to Jackie Kennedy (42%) on "representing
the United States with the rest of the world, and third (16%), behind Jackie
Kennedy (30%) and Barbara Bush (21%) as the best role model for American women.
However, being "most
intelligent" can be a double-edged sword. Many people, it seems, place less
importance on a first lady’s intelligence than on her other qualities.
Although a mere 12% of the public rated Jackie Kennedy as most intelligent, she
was still viewed as "the best" first lady.
First Lady Laura Bush Off to a Good
Start
This issue of The Harris
Poll presents good news for First Lady Laura Bush. Although her husband’s
ratings may be falling, her marks with the public are much higher. She had twice
as many positive ratings as she did negative. Fully 81% of adults surveyed
believe that she has improved the image of the office of First Lady, whereas
only 52% believe that First Lady Hillary Clinton did so.
These data also raise the question
about how important (or unimportant) it may be for first ladies to be actively
involved in the Cabinet office. It doesn’t appear to be heavily important in
the public’s mind (See Table 2). This opinion may differ from some feminists’
opinions, of course.
Humphrey Taylor is the Chairman of
The Harris Poll, Harris Interactive.
TABLE 1
BEST (OF LAST NINE)
FIRST LADIES ON FOUR CRITERIA
"We’d like to
ask you about the last nine first ladies of the United States. Which first lady
do you think . . ."
Base: All adults
| |
|
Jackie Kennedy |
Lady Bird
Johnson
’63-‘69 |
Pat Nixon
’69-‘74 |
Betty
Ford
’74-‘77 |
Rosalyn
Carter
’77 –
‘81 |
Nancy
Reagan
’81 –
‘89 |
Barbara
Bush
’89 –
‘93 |
Hillary
Rodham Clinton
’93 –
‘01 |
Laura
Bush
2001 |
Not Sure
At All |
|
Will be viewed as the
best First Lady by history |
% |
50 |
3 |
* |
3 |
* |
11 |
10 |
10 |
3 |
11 |
|
Best represented the
United States with the rest of the world |
% |
42 |
2 |
* |
2 |
4 |
13 |
13 |
14 |
2 |
7 |
|
Was the best role model
for women in America |
% |
30 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
10 |
21 |
16 |
5 |
6 |
|
Was most intelligent |
% |
12 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
10 |
8 |
45 |
6 |
10 |
TABLE 2
HOW MUCH SHOULD FIRST
LADY INFLUENCE GOVERNMENT POLICY
"To what extent
do you think that the first lady should influence government policy?"
Base: All adults
| |
Total
% |
|
Not at all |
31 |
|
A lot |
19 |
|
A little |
49 |
TABLE 3
RATING OF FIRST LADY
LAURA BUSH
"How would you
rate the job Laura Bush is doing as First Lady?"
Base: All adults
| |
Total
% |
|
Positive (Net) |
68 |
|
Excellent |
28 |
|
Pretty good |
40 |
|
Negative (Net) |
32 |
|
Only fair |
24 |
|
Poor |
8 |
TABLE 4
WHETHER FIRST LADIES
BUSH AND CLINTON IMPROVED OR HARMED THE IMAGE OF OFFICE OF FIRST LADY
"Do you think
that (INSERT NAME) improved or harmed the image of the office of First
Lady?"
Base: All adults
| |
First
Lady Laura Bush
% |
Former
First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
% |
|
Improved |
81 |
52 |
|
Harmed |
19 |
48 |
|
Not sure |
- |
- |
Methodology
This issue of The
Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between June 7-17,
2001, among a nationwide cross section of 1,246 adults. Figures for age, sex,
race, education, number of adults and number of voice/telephone lines in the
household were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their
actual proportions in the population. "Propensity score" weighting was
also used to adjust for respondents propensity to be online.
In theory, with a
probability sample 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. And this online sample is not a probability sample.
These statements conform to
the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.
____________________________________________________________
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