Vested Interest - Trends - May 1999 Issue

Impeachment Backlash Continues to Plague Republicans

Polls by news organizations, and even one by a traditionally Republican pollster, are finding a continued backlash against the Republican Party over last year’s impeachment hearings. Asked on a generic ballot whether they would vote for the Democratic or Republican candidate, an ABC News/Washington Post poll of 1,515 adults nationwide found that 50% of respondents said they would vote for the Democratic candidate, while just 41% would vote for the Republican. That 9 point spread is larger than similar polls found last year. Even the traditionally Republican polling firm Market Strategies surveyed 675 voters nationwide and found that 42% would vote for the Democrat and 36% would vote for the Republican, a 6 point spread. (The Polling Report)

Watching the Detectives

A survey by the American Management Association found in 1997 that 15% of its members regularly monitor their employees’ e-mail, including both in-coming and out-going messages. The latest survey, for 1999, found that 27% of their members now monitor workers’ e-mail. Because the American Management Association tends to include larger corporations, it’s a safe bet that over a third of American workers’ e-mail at work is monitored by their supervisors. (Chicago Tribune, April 5, 1999)

Time Magazine Anoints Brains

In the continuing list of millennial lists, Time magazine has commissioned a panel of experts to rank the greatest minds of the 20th century. Their list includes 24 people, including the Wright Brothers, Albert Einstein, Philo Farnsworth (inventor of the television), Jonas Salk (inventor of the polio vaccine), and Leo Baekeland, who developed bakelite, a modern plastic. Not on the list: Vladimir Sworykin, who developed an early model of a television, and Albert Sabin, who contributed to Salk’s polio work. Just two women made the list, including environmentalist Rachel Carson and anthropologist Mary Leakey. (AP, March 20, 1999)

What, Exactly, the Old Grey Mare Was and Wasn’t

A comparison of polling data from the years immediately following World War II with more recent materials helps to identify what has changed, and what has not. Survey researcher Robert Hitlin used Gallup and National Election Studies surveys for consistent methodologies. The findings: participation in political causes appears to be unchanged. While 7% of respondents report attending a political meeting in 1952, 8% report doing so in 1992. Although 71% said that taxes were too high in 1952, just 64% said so in 1992. Those who identify themselves as “strongly partisan” fell from 35% in 1952 to 29% in 1992; the “weak partisans” fell from 39% to 32%, and the “leaning independent” grew 17% to 27%. (The Polling Report)