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THE INDEPENDENT AND
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IMPARTIAL STATEWIB~~URVEY:'OF ~6BL1C'OPiM(jN rn 720
ESTABLISHED AND OPERATED BY FIELD RESEARCH CORPORAnON SINCE 1946
Los Angeles Office
San Francisco Headquarters
3142 Wilshire Boulevard
234 Front Street
Los Angeles 90005
San Francisco 94111
(213) 385-7474
(415) 392-5763
Mervin D. Field, Director
Robert Heyer, Editor
COPYRIGHT 1974 BY FIELD RESEARCH CORPORATION.
~Release
#834
FOR PUBLICATION BY SUBSCRIBERS OJ
For release THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1974
PUBLIC DISAPPROVES OF NIXON
PARDON, PREFERRED A TRIAL, NEARLY
HALF WOULD HAVE APPROVED OF JAIL
TERM IF NIXON HAD BEEN JUDGED
GUILTY.
IMPORTANT: Contract for this service is
subject to revocation if publication or
broadcast takes place before release datE
if contents of re:?ort are divulged to pel
outside of subscriber staff prior to relE
time.
by Mervin D. Field
President Gerald Ford's pardoning of Richard Nixon for any crimes he
ma~
have committed while he served as President, does not si': well with a large
majority of Californians.
A California Poll survey completed last week found that people in this
s~
disapproved of President Ford's action in pardoning Richard Nixon by a 61% to 3:
margin.
Further, two out of three Californians (67%) say they would have favorE
a trial of Mr. Nixon if charges had been brought against him by the Watergate
prosecutor.
_
Nearly half of the California public (46%) would have approved of sendil
~ro Nixon to jail if he had been adjudged guilty of crimes connected with the
Watergate affair.
However, 53% of Californians say they would have approved of
President Ford granting a pardon to Mr. Nixon if it occurred after such a trial
and verdict.
These and other measures demonstrate that the public feels President Fo)
pardon of Mr. Nixon was at least premature.
a trial.
Both Democrats and Republicans fav(
Antipathy toward Mr. Nixon runs so deep that many people would have
supported the idea of a jail term for Mr. Nixon, as painful and embarrassing as
that might have been to the American public.
However, the public is not comple 1
punitive minded -- both Democrats and Republicans would h3.ve approved a pardon
after Mr. Nixon had been adjudged guilty.
To a considerable extent feeling about President
is partisan, but not on every aspect of this issue.
:~ord's
pardoning of Ni:
Democ::rats by a large margiI
voice disapproval of the pardon and favor a Nixon trial and a jail term for the
former President if he had been adjudged guilty of crimes.
While a majority (54%) of Republicans approved of Ford's pardon of NixOI
a plurality of GaPers (49% to 43%) still would have favorE!d a trial of the
~ormer President.
(MORE)
The California Poll was founded in 1946 as a medium for promoting public opinion research. The California Poll is completely independent of all political parties and candidates. II is operated by
Field Research Corporation. Its sole purpose is to report pUblic opinion accurately and objectively. Financial support for the Poll comes from lIewspapers and television stations that have exclusive
rights within the city of publication. The Poll utilizes accepted scientific sampling and questioning procedures in obtaining the data reported in its releases. Representative samples of adults are
intel'liewed at periodic intervals on socially important questions of the day and election issues. Proportionate numbers of people of both SExes, from all parts of the state, from different sized
communities, and of all age, economic, political, and occupation groups are included in the samples.
--------------The California Poll - page 2
On the matter of a jail term for Mr. Nixon if he had gone to trial and t
adjudged guilty of crimes, 54% of Democrats and almost o:le-third of the Republic
(32%) would have approved of a jail term for him.
A majority of Republicans
and a plurality of Democrats would have approved of a
pa:~don
if a trial had been
held and the former President had been adjudged guilty.
APPROVAL/DISAPPROVAL OF NIXON PARDON
Statewide
Approve
Disapprove
No opinion
Dems
Reps
33%
61
19%
77
54%
38
6
4
8
NIXON TRIAL IF NO PARDON
Statewide
Dems
Reps
78%
16
6
49%
43
Would have
Favored trial
Opposed trial
No opinion
67%
27
6
8
APPROVAL/DISAPPROVAL OF JAIL FOR NIXJN
Statewide
Dems
If adjudged guilty
Approved jail
Disapproved jail
No opinion
46%
46
54%
39
32%
59
8
7
9
PARDON AFTER ADJUDGED GUILTY
Statewide
Dems
53%
35
12
45%
43
12
After guilty judgment
Approved pardon
Disapproved pardon
No opinion
65%
23
12
-30­
COPYRIGHT 1974 BY FIELD RESEARCH CORPORATION.
FOR PUBLICATION BY SUBSCRIBERS ON:
THE INDEPENDENT AND IMPARTIAL STATEWIDE SURVEY OF PUBLIC OPINION
ESTABLISHED AND OPERATED BY FIELD RESEARCH CORPORATION SINCE 1946
San Francisco
Headquarters
234 Front Street
los Angeles
Office
3142 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles 90005
San Francisco 94111
(213) 385·7474
(415) 392·5763
Mervin D. Field, Director
Robert Heyer, Editor
Release 11834
INFORMATION ABOUT THIS SURVEY
DATES. TIME. AND METHOD OF INTERVIEWING
September 28, September 30, and October 1, 1974, from 3:00 p.m. to
9:00 p.m. each day. Telephone interviewing.
POPULATION COVERED BY THIS SURVEY
Respondents who say they are registered and plan to vote residing in
the 18 most populous counties in California:
Alameda, 80ntra Costa,
Fresno, Kern, Los Angeles, Marin, Orange, Riverside, Sacramento, San
Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Miteo, Santa
Barbara, Santa Clara, Sonoma, and Ventura. These counti,~s account
for 89% of the state's total registered voters.
NUMBER OF INTERVIEWS
An overall sample of 1089 persons who are registered and say they
plan to vote in the November 5 General Election. Of the total, 589
are registered as Democrats, 413 are registered as Republicans, and
87 are registered as other party or Decline to State.
SAMPLE DESIGN
The respondents in this survey were selected in accordanc·e with a
probability selection procedure which provided for proportionate
representation of registered voters from each of the 18 counties
surveyed. Current telephone directories serving the sample areas
were used for the sample frame. Telephone numbers were sHlected
from each directory in a random mannero Households which could not
be contacted on the first day of interviewing were called again on
the second day. If not contacted on the second day, they were called
the third day. Potential respondents were screened to locate registered
voters who said they planned to vote in the November 5 Ger.eral Election.
Interviews were conducted only with persons who met those two criteria.
Only one adult was interviewed from anyone household. The sample
has been drawn from telephone directories and is thus approximately
weighted by population distribution. Weighting has been applied to
the data to provide for an exact match to known party registration
data by county.
(OVER)
The California Poll was founded in 1946 as a medium for promoting public opinion research. The California Poll is completely independent of all political
~arties and
candidates. It is operated by
Field Research· Corporation. Its sole purpose is to report public opinion accurately and objectively. Financial support for the Poll comes from nl'Wspapers and television stations that have exclusive
~ights within the city of publication. The Poll utilizes accepted scientific sampling and questioning procedures in obtaining the data reported i I its releases. Representative samples of adults are
interviewed at periodic intervals on socially important questions of the day and election issues. Proportionate numbers of people of both seles, from all parts of the state, from different sized
communities, a'nd of all age,. economic, political, and occupation groups are included in the samples.
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QUESTIONS ASKED
A.
Do you approve or disapprove of President Fordis acticn in pardoning former
President Richard Nixon of crimes he may have committed while he was in office?
1
APPROVE c c c o
c
2
DISAPPROVE
NO OPINION o c o o 0
0
0
B.
If President Ford had not pardoned Mr, Nixon, would you have been in favor
or opposed to Mr, Nixon standing trial on charges brought by the Watergate
prosecutor?
FAV,)R TRIAL c c , , 1
, 2
OPPOSE TRIAL
, 0
NO OPINION
C.
If the trial had been held and Mr. Nixon was judged gu:Llty of some crimes
which called for a prison term, would you have approved or disapproved of
Mr. Nixon going to jail?
APPltOVED JAIL , , c 1
DISAPPROVED JAIL. • 2
NO OPINION
, 0
D.
If Mr. Nixon was judged guilty of the crimes. would yOll have approved or
disapproved the granting of a pardon after the judgment was reached?
APPFDVED PARDON , , 1
DISPPPROVED PARDON, 2
NO (PINION c , • , 0
SAMPLING RELIABILITY
The sample is designed to be self-weighted with respect to population factors.
i.e., sampling points are selected with probability of selection in proportion
to population. Socio-economic and demographic characteristics and political
and social opinions are also therefore assumed to be represented proportionately.
Standard weighting procedures are used to adjust the final sample to population
parameters whenever key variables deviate because of sampli:lg variability or
other factors,
The sampling tolerance for the data shown in this release iu approximately
three percentage points, That is, the chances are about ninHteen out of twenty
that the true value of the candidate standings that would bu found by inter­
viewing all voters would be found to lie within plus or minus three percentage
points of the figures obtained by this survey,
POLL OPERATION AND SPONSORSHIP
The California Poll is owned and operated by Field Research Corporation, an
independent national public opinion and marketing research agency with head­
quarters in San Francisco. The Poll was founded in 1946 and has been
publish~d continuously since that time.
The Poll is non-pax tisan
0
The cost of operating The California Poll is underwritten by a syndicate of
11 newspapers and television stations in California. Each one pays an annual
fee for exclusive publication or broadcast rights in its area. The Poll does
not accept fees from any candidates, political parties, or individuals who
have any interest in the data being published.
I