Posted on 02/28/2005 6:24:35 AM PST by CovenBuster
One-in-Four Americans to Watch Academy Awards; Democrats Far Outnumber Republicans in Audience; Blacks More Likely to Watch than Whites; Rock Emerges in Crystal's Shadow, New Zogby Poll Reveals
When Chris Rock hosts the 77th Annual Academy Awards Sunday night, he will command the attention of one-quarter (25%) of American adults, a new Zogby Interactive survey finds. If Rock fails to rise to the occasion, though, those adults may find themselves longing for the past Oscars host they consider the best-ever: Billy Crystal. The interactive poll of 22,126 American adults nationwide was conducted from February 18 to 23, 2005, and has a margin of error of +/-0.7 percentage points.
The survey finds that 25% of American adults plan to watch the annual awards show, while nearly two-thirds (63%) say they do not plan to. Another one-in-eight (12%) have not decided whether they will watch the Oscars or not.
Oscar-viewing habits do have a lot to do with where a respondent lives, and where they line up politically. While four-in-ten (39%) Democrats say they will watch the Oscars, this drops to one-in-eight (13%) among Republicans. Unsurprisingly, political independents split the difference, with 22% planning to view the awards show.
"The Republican/Democrat split really isn't shocking," pollster John Zogby said. "This is the time when Hollywood liberals shine—the awards are dominated by them, and they are their most glamorous."
A racial divide has appeared in this year's awards viewership as well, with 39% of African Americans saying they will watch the program and 23% of whites saying the same—at a time when African American Rock is poised to host, and only three years after Halle Berry and Denzel Washington made history as the first African Americans to win Oscars for best actor and actress. There is also an urban-rural divide, with nearly one-third (31%) of residents of large cities planning to watch Sunday night's program, while half as many rural residents (15%) say the same.
Rock, who takes his first shot at hosting Hollywood's big night out this year, will be attempting to fill some large shoes. When asked who their favorite host was, three-in-ten American adults say comedian Billy Crystal. Crystal far out-distances his nearest competitor, the recently-deceased late-night host Johnny Carson, who garners 13%. Another late comic, Bob Hope, rounds out the top three at 9%—and surges to 17% among those over the age of 65. Steve Martin—who managed to reinvigorate the arrow-through-the-head gag—is fourth, at 7%, while daytime hostess Ellen DeGeneres takes fifth place at 6%. Two other past hosts, Whoopie Goldberg (3%) and Frank Sinatra (1%) are even farther behind.
As with other questions, this one had some political coloring as well. Crystal performs better among Democrats (34%) than Republicans (28%) while Carson gains ground among Republicans (16%) over Democrats (10%). However, two more politically-polarizing figures get disparate marks from respondents. Hope is favored by 15% of Republicans and 4% of Democrats, while DeGeneres takes 10% of Democrats and 2% of Republicans. While race does not seem to play a large factor in Crystal's popularity—28% of African Americans and 30% of whites call him the best host—it does play a role with Goldberg, viewed as best by 8% of African Americans and 2% of whites in the poll.
Gibson, Eastwood, Newman Favored for Politics
Mel Gibson, the controversial director of The Passion of the Christ, and whose acting credits include Lethal Weapon and Mad Max, is the Academy Award-nominated actor Americans would most like to see run for political office, with 17% selecting the social conservative from a list of top Academy Award nominees and recipients from past years. Real-life small-town politician Clint Eastwood, best remembered for the Dirty Harry films, and who served a two-year term as the libertarian-leaning mayor of Carmel, Calif., places second, with 11%. Veteran actor and well-known liberal Paul Newman, remembered for his roles in Cool Hand Luke and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, places third, with 9%. Well-known Hollywood leading man and heartthrob Denzel Washington, remembered for leading roles in Malcolm X and The Hurricane, as well as military-oriented films like Crimson Tide and Soldier Story, was fourth, with support from 6%. Another vocal liberal, Alan Alda, the MASH veteran currently running for president on NBC's The West Wing (albeit as a Republican), is fifth, at 5%.
Politics impacted outlook on this question, as well, with Republican support for Gibson at 32%, and much lower among Democrats—hitting just 3%. However, Gibson's popularity holds across a wide number of other demographics. First among Democrats, meanwhile, is Newman, at 18%.
Race also seems to bear on responses in this area as well. Washington is the top pick among African Americans, with 15% choosing him, versus 11% for Eastwood and 8% for Gibson, the second- and third-place finishers with this demographic.
"The message here is that Americans do love some celebrities," Zogby said. "Gibson's support is strong with many demographics, and were he to seek political office, I have no doubt he'd be formidable. Of course, since Michael Moore, the other big name in Hollywood this past year, wasn't nominated for an Academy Award, we didn't gauge his relative strength—though I would wager it's high. And, I would imagine Clint Eastwood's 'tough-on-crime' image didn't hurt at all here."
Zogby International conducted interviews of 22,126 American adults nationwide. All surveys were conducted from servers housed at Zogby International headquarters in Utica, N.Y., from February 18 to 23, 2005. The margin of error is +/-0.7 percentage points. Margins of error are higher in subgroups.
Interactive? Do they mean the self selecting on-line poll? I also tell 'em I'm a Hispanic, union, high school drop-out, Jewish, Republican and earning $25K a year. Goofing with Zogby is kewl.
The cornerstone of the Zogby polling system.
The awards show last night was one more slap in the face of conservative america! How long will we continue to support the likes of those who found the comments against President Bush so funny? The only way to make Hollywood understand our disgust is with our money--we must stop going to their movies and supporting their outlandish living styles.
Zogby + Oscars = Nowhere men
I guess Zogby has his finger on the pulse of the left. Who'd a thunk it?
1 in 4 Americans are gay?
The People's Choice Awards are probably a more accurate reflection of "America's choice" for those awards.
Personally, I don't find any of those award shows very compelling. The days when I had the time to go out and see all the big films and actually have an informed opinion on the nominated films are long gone.
I'm sure the Democrats do outnumber the Republicans in viewership - it must be much easier to tune-in when you don't attend church and are letting the 2d television set raise your children.
1 in 4? That seems a little high. 0 of 5 watched it at my house.
I didn't even realize last night was Oscar night until it was the lead story on ABC News (radio) this morning.
Unfortunately, some real news story was displaced by that cr*p.
(Denny Crane: "There are two places to find the truth. First God and then Fox News.")
I watched it for about a minute and a half when Cate Blanchett was on. She's a cutey. Then I turned it off.
So 75% of Americans didn't watch, and of the ones that did, more were Dems than Republicans, and didn't we hear earlier that you had to be gay to watch the Oscars anyway, so who's really watching?
I tuned in for about 10 seconds because I wanted to confirm that the Oscars were indeed being held last night. Then I went back to my book. Since I saw only two movies last year ("The Village" and "The Passion of the Christ"), I had no frame of reference anyway.
Old Zog nails it again, as only he can do it, although a monkey with an abacus could have easily predicted the survey results re who watches the Awards. If Calipornia is a blue state, Hollywood is deep blue, going on purple. As for the Rock's anti-Bush rant, it was neither funny nor appropriate. He's a loser like the rest of those leftist twits. He did mention the Moore movie as if it were a factual documentary. By the way, I didn't watch the Awards-- I saw the Fox report today to get the above information.
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