Tuned In

In the previous post, I listed three stories I should care about but don’t yet. The story I do care about — the one I spend more of my free time reading about than any other — is the one that some call “Plamegate.”

You don’t need me to tell you the particulars — if you care, you’re following it. But here’s something I find surprising: According to this story in Editor & Publisher, if you don’t care about administration officials deliberately outing a CIA agent to punish her husband, and don’t take it seriously, you’re in the minority:

Some 51 percent said it is already of “great importance,” with 35 percent choosing “some importance” and 12 percent “little or no importance.” Here are comparable numbers for other notable scandals in recent years, along with the month and year the poll was taken:

Clinton-Lewinsky (1/98)

Great importance – 41%
Some importance – 21%
Little/no importance – 37%

Whitewater (3/94)

Great importance – 20%
Some importance – 29%
Little/no importance – 45%

Iran-Contra (2/87)

Great importance – 48%
Some importance – 33%
Little/no importance – 19%

Watergate (5/73; Gallup Poll)

Great importance – 53%
Some importance – 25%
Little/no importance – 22%

Just 12 percent, one out of eight Americans, say Plamegate has little or no importance, which compares to 22 percent of Americans who thought Watergate wasn’t important in May 1973. (That’s when the televised Senate hearings began. His approval ratings were still in the mid-40s, and didn’t crater into the 20s until 1974.)

I have no more of a clue how this will play out than anyone else, but if the public already considers it far more serious than either of Bill Clinton’s scandals, it won’t go away anytime soon.

Tags: Tags: Politics