-Caveat Lector-
In "Dick," a film targeting teenage audiences, Nixon has gone from
paranoid enemy of the US Constitition, to respected "elder statesman" -- to
lovable grumpy old man.
Poll: Fewer Know Watergate Details
By WILL LESTER
.c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - Most Americans think President Nixon's actions 25 years ago
in the Watergate scandal were serious enough to merit his resignation,
according to a new Associated Press poll that also showed memories of the
scandal are fading.
The poll, conducted by ICR of Media, Pa., found that more than 60 percent
said Nixon made the right decision when he became the only president to quit.
But about a quarter of the people, and more than one-in-three Republicans,
said the charges stemming from Watergate were not serious enough to merit his
resignation.
Baby boomers, those between 35 and 54 years old, were most likely to say the
charges against Nixon were serious enough to drive him from office. They also
were the generation most critical of the 37th president's policies concerning
the war in Vietnam.
The overall numbers were about the same in a poll taken in the days after
Nixon resigned, on Aug. 9, 1974, at the height of a scandal that dominated
television news programs and newspaper front pages for months. In 1982, the
number saying resignation was the right step reached about 75 percent and has
eroded slowly. About half in the latest poll think President Clinton's
actions were about as serious or worse, but he survived efforts to impeach
him.
People's expectations for their leaders have changed since Nixon resigned,
said Heather Rawlings, a 22-year-old student and human resources worker from
Colorado Springs, Colo.
``Politicians are seen as extremely corrupt today, while in the 1970s they
were seen as moderately corrupt,'' she said, noting political corruption is
constantly reported in the media and is a frequent topic for comedians.
``People feel like: `They're corrupt, no biggie,''' she said.
But while opinions about Nixon have remained relatively stable over the
years, the poll found that only four of every 10 people think they know
enough about Watergate to tell others about it. Men were nearly twice as
likely as women - 52 percent to 28 percent - to say they could recount the
basic facts of the case.
``It may have to do with the stubbornness of men,'' said Dan Soulas, vice
president of ICR. ``They don't want to admit they're not aware of something
as newsworthy as Watergate was. It's purely a factor of their gender.''
The telephone survey of 1,012 adults was conducted July 28 to Aug. 1 and has
a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Other findings included:
People were divided over whether Watergate was a serious matter that revealed
corruption in the White House (48 percent) or was ``just politics'' (45
percent). Although only 40 percent of Republicans said it was a serious
matter, more than half of GOP voters said Nixon's resignation was warranted.
One-third of the people surveyed said the allegations of misconduct against
President Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair were about as serious as
the charges made against Nixon, and 18 percent said the Clinton matter was
more serious. Forty-five percent said the Lewinsky case was less serious than
Watergate.
Three out of four people thought Nixon would be remembered more for Watergate
than for his policies as president. The youngest adults, who learned about
the scandal in school because they hadn't been born yet or were too young to
remember when it happened, were the most likely to choose Watergate as his
legacy (80 percent).
Donald Chatmon, a teacher from Monroe, N.C., said he thinks Clinton got off
easily compared to Nixon.
``I think Nixon and Clinton were in the same boat,'' he said. ``Nixon went
ahead and resigned. Clinton should have done the same thing. The only thing
that saved Clinton was when people looked at what was going on - the economy,
the situation in the world - and that saved him.''
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