Rasmussen:45% Suspect Obama Team Involved in Blagojevich Scandal
www.rasmussentsreports.com, December 15, 2008
Forty five percent (45%) of U.S. voters say it is likely President-elect Obama or one of his top campaign aides was involved in the unfolding Blagojevich scandal in Illinois, including 23% who say it is Very Likely.
Just 11% say it is not at all likely, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey taken Thursday and Friday nights.
Voters nationally are more skeptical than those in Illinois. Thirty-two percent (32%) of Illinois voters said in a survey late last week that there is no way Obama was involved in the Blagojevich case, while only 13% said it is Very Likely that the president-elect was involved, with another 13% saying it is Somewhat Likely.
The Chicago Tribune on Saturday reported that Obama’s White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel had conversations with Blagojevich’s staff about candidates who were acceptable to the president-elect to fill his vacant Senate seat. Obama resigned from the Senate following his election as president.
Other news organizations have since confirmed the Tribune’s report, but no official word has come from Emanuel or the president-elect. Up until now, no one in a position of authority is saying that Obama or anyone on his staff is guilty of wrongdoing.
Nationally, men are more suspicious than women, with 27% of male voters saying it is Very Likely Obama or one of this top aides was involved in the scandal versus 19% of female voters.
African-American voters by nearly two-to-one over whites rated Obama as more ethical than most politicians. Sixty-four percent (64%) of Democratic voters say Obama is more ethical, while only 11% of Republicans and 30% of unaffiliated voters agree.
In the first polling in Illinois following Blagojevich’s arrest, 84% of voters in the state said the governor should resign. Some news reports suggest that his resignation could come as early as today.
Eighty-six percent (86%) say they are following recent news stories about Blagojevich, with 55% saying they are following Very Closely. Only three percent (3%) say they are not following news about the Illinois governor at all.
Despite the country’s recent economic woes, voters nationally are in near agreement with those in Illinois by a two-to-one margin that politicians are more corrupt that the chief executive officers of major companies. Forty-eight percent (48%) of U.S. voters say politicians are more corrupt than CEOs, while 25% disagree. Twenty-seven percent (27%) are undecided.
In Illinois, where Blagojevich’s immediate predecessor as governor was convicted on similar federal corruption charges, 48% also believe politicians are more corrupt, with 22% saying CEOs are worse and 30% undecided.
This telephone survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports December 11-12, 2008. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence |
