WAY TO BURY THE LEDE :

Thirty Years Later, Americans Still Believe Watergate Was Serious Matter : Nixon's image has never recovered (Lydia Saad, June 17, 2002, GALLUP NEWS SERVICE)

The political scandal that began 30 years ago with a break-in at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C., and that culminated in the1974 resignation of President Richard Nixon, is still familiar to a majority of Americans, and is by and large viewed harshly.

When given the choice of two ways to describe the Watergate affair, 51% of Americans in a June 7-8 CNN/USA Today/Gallup survey opted for the more critical perspective: that it represented "a very serious matter" because of the corruption it revealed in the Nixon administration. A somewhat smaller number, 42%, chose the more forgiving option: that it was "just politics" of the kind "both parties engage in." These attitudes have changed little since Gallup first measured them on the 10th anniversary of the Watergate break-in, in 1982.

Americans' current judgment of Watergate is also very similar to what it was during the height of the controversy. A June 1974 Gallup survey asked the public virtually the same question as that described above and found 48% viewing the situation as very serious and 43% viewing it as "just politics." Only at the very beginning of the publicity surrounding the break-in did a majority of Americans believe Watergate was a case of run-of-the-mill political treachery.

Isn't the most remarkable part of this story the fact that even in the immediate aftermath of Nixon's resignation, a tacit admission of criminal conduct, 43% still thought it was just politics?

Meanwhile, the other interesting numbers from the poll are the ranking of the recent presidents. The JFK number is, of course, idiotic--if not for Lee Harvey Oswald he'd be ranked below LBJ. But the rest are spot on. George Bush, Sr. should be significantly lower than Reagan, but most of the respondents probably meant Jr. :

RETROSPECTIVE PRESIDENTIAL JOB APPROVAL

2002 Mar 18-20
(sorted by "approve") Approve--Disapprove

John F. Kennedy 83--7
Ronald Reagan 73--22
elder George Bush 69--26
Gerald Ford 60--19
Jimmy Carter 60--28
Bill Clinton 51--47
Lyndon Johnson 39--34
Richard Nixon 34--54

What would Reagan be at if he'd been assassinated in 1987? About 150%?

UPDATE :
The estimable Dr. Weevil, who when last we heard from him was questioning the existence of the other Brother, goes inside these numbers and offers some fascinating perspective. Hard to believe he's from the People's Republic of Maine.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 18, 2002 9:37 AM