White House [Photo: UNifeed] |
Washington: In the wake of the party conventions, Democrats express
increasingly positive views of the presidential campaign. And today,
substantially more Democrats than Republicans view the campaign as interesting
and informative.
The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for
the People & the Press, conducted Sept. 7-9 among 1,012 adults, finds that
66% of Democrats say the presidential campaign is interesting while just 27%
say it is dull. Among Republicans 50% say it is interesting while nearly as
many (45%) describe it as dull. The gap is about as wide in opinions about
whether the presidential campaign is informative – 68% of Democrats say it is
informative, compared with 49% of Republicans.
In September 2008, nearly identical percentages of
Republicans (75%) and Democrats (74%) said the campaign was interesting. And
similar majorities of both groups viewed the campaign as informative (62% of
Republicans and 59% of Democrats).
Republicans also are more likely than Democrats to say the
current campaign is too negative. More than six-in-ten Republicans (63%) say it
is too negative; just 42% of Democrats express this view. In September 2008,
41% of Republicans and 45% of Democrats said the campaign was too negative.
Most Republicans (62%) say the presidential campaign is too
long, compared with 43% of Democrats. In 2008, 63% of Republicans and 49% of
Democrats said the campaign was too long.
Among the public as a whole, fewer people say the campaign
is interesting than did so at about the same point in the 2008 race (53% now,
68% then). About as many say the campaign is informative as did so in September
2008. More people say the campaign is too negative than four years ago, while
somewhat fewer say it is too long.
Over the course of the current campaign, views of the race
have changed substantially. Far more people find the campaign interesting and
informative than did so in June or March.
But virtually all of the increase in positive campaign
evaluations has come among Democrats and independents. Republicans currently
express about the same opinions about the campaign as they did in March, during
the GOP primaries, with one exception: More Republicans now say the campaign is
too negative than did so then.
Republicans are now more likely to say the campaign is
interesting and informative than in June, after the primaries ended.
Nonetheless, about the same number of Republicans say the campaign is
interesting (50%) and informative (49%) as did so in March (52% and 47% respectively).
Over the same period, Democrats’ views of the 2012 campaign
have improved dramatically. About two-thirds of Democrats say the presidential
campaign is interesting (66%) and informative (68%). In March, just 36% of
Democrats called the campaign interesting and 44% called it informative.
Notably, an increasing percentage of independents also finds
the campaign interesting. Currently, 45% of independents say it is interesting,
up from 31% in March and 27% in June.
Most Republicans think the campaign is too negative (63%)
and too long (62%). Far fewer Democrats say the campaign is too negative (42%)
or too long (43%). In March, about as many Democrats (54%) as Republicans (51%)
said the campaign was too negative and there was a more modest gap in the
percentages calling the campaign too long (64% of Republicans, 53% of
Democrats).