First Survey Since Death of President Reagan Gauges
Impact of Event on Public Views;
Strong Support for Research Seen Among Conservatives,
Independents and Fundamentalists
WASHINGTON, June 16 /PRNewswire/ -- By a decisive margin of 74-21 percent,
Americans support former First Lady Nancy Reagan's call for the Bush White
House to lift restrictions on stem cell research in order to look for possible
treatments for the Alzheimer's disease that afflicted former President Ronald
Reagan prior to his recent death, as well as the other grave illnesses --
including diabetes, Parkinson's, heart disease and multiple sclerosis -- that
are suffered by millions of other Americans, according to a new survey
conducted by Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) on behalf of the Results for
America (RFA) project of the nonprofit and nonpartisan Civil Society
Institute.
The first opinion survey of public attitudes about stem cell research to
be conducted since the death of President Reagan also found that 72 percent of
Americans say they are more likely in the wake of Reagan's passing to support
stem cell research, including 76 percent of moderates, 64 percent of
conservatives and 62 percent of fundamentalist or evangelical Christians.
Also, Nancy Reagan's clout in the national stem cell debate appears to have
risen sharply, with 80 percent of Americans viewing her as credible on the
issue, up from 65 percent in a separate survey conducted during March 2004 in
18 key states.
Civil Society Institute President Pam Solo said: "We now can say with
certainty that the death of Ronald Reagan is altering the course of the
national dialogue about stem cell research. When almost three out of four
Americans say that they are more likely to support stem cell research after
the death of President Reagan, what you are witnessing is a fundamental shift
in the way that average Americans think about this issue."
ORC Senior Research Manager Wayne Russum said: "What you see here is
really about as close to bipartisan and pan-religious agreement as you can get
in American today on any topic. Three in four Americans (74 percent) support
Nancy Reagan's call for the White House to lift restrictions on stem cell
research to search for a possible cure for Alzheimer's disease and other grave
illnesses. That high level of support for the former First Lady's view on
this issue translates into a solid majority of conservatives (62 percent),
fundamentalists/ evangelicals (62 percent) and moderates (79 percent)."
In August 2001, the Bush administration imposed a major new restriction on
federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. The restriction meant that
research on stem cell lines created before August 2001 could receive funding,
but prohibited support for research on stem cell lines developed after that
date.
KEY FINDINGS
* A strong majority of Americans support Nancy Reagan's call for the Bush
White House to lift restrictions on stem cell research that might help to find
cures for such ailments as the Alzheimer's disease that afflicted the recently
deceased President Ronald Reagan, as well as other illnesses such as diabetes,
Parkinson's, heart disease and multiple sclerosis. By a margin of 74 percent
to 21 percent, Americans (including 79 percent of moderates and 62 percent of
conservatives) say that they back the former First Lady's call for more stem
cell research flexibility.
* The death of Ronald Reagan is boosting support for stem cell research.
When asked "would you be more or less likely to support stem cell research if
you knew that experts think it may hold the key to curing the Alzheimer's
disease that afflicted President Reagan," 72 percent of Americans said they
would be more likely to support stem cell research, including 76 percent of
moderates, 64 percent of conservatives and 62 percent of fundamentalist or
evangelical Christians.
* Nancy Reagan's clout on stem cell research issues appears to be much
greater since the death of her husband. The former first lady is seen as very
or somewhat credible on stem cell research issues by 80 percent of Americans,
including 77 percent of conservatives, 81 percent of moderates and 74 percent
of fundamentalist or evangelical Christians. This reflects an apparent uptick
in the public's perception of her credibility on this issue; a Civil Society
Institute (CSI) survey asking the same question in March 2004 in 18 key states
found that only 65 percent of Americans recognized Nancy Reagan as a credible
spokesperson on stem cell research issues. Today, Nancy Reagan trails only
major medical groups (88 percent) in terms of being able to speak out with
authority on stem cell research issues.
* Overall support for stem cell research is continuing its steady pattern
of growth. When asked for their initial views with no prompting of medical
research that "uses stem cells from human embryos," Americans supported it by
a margin of 60 percent-26 percent. This reflects major growth in support from
an earlier 2001 survey that asked the same question and found a support level
of 48-43 percent.
* Support for stem cell research is rapidly approaching bipartisan status.
The initial question posed about "embryonic stem cell research" found strong
majority support among liberals (75 percent) and moderates (67 percent), with
conservatives (47 percent) hovering just under the majority level. When the
potential benefits of stem cell research were explained in a separate question
to those polled, the overall support level rose to 72 percent-23 percent,
including backing from moderates at 81 percent and conservatives at 60
percent.
* Nearly three in four Americans support expanded federal support for stem
cell research. A strong 74 percent of those polled expressed their backing
for more resources for stem cell research, including 80 percent of moderates
and 62 percent of conservatives. Moderates lined up for additional stem cell
research by a margin of 80 percent-17 percent, while conservatives supported
the proposition by a margin of 62 percent-32 percent.
* Nearly all Americans (95 percent) were aware of the fact that President
Ronald Reagan was afflicted with Alzheimer's disease prior to his death.
Full survey findings are available online at
http://www.ResultsForAmerica.org.
METHODOLOGY
The RFA survey results are based upon telephone surveys conducted by
Opinion Research Corporation among a national probability sample of 1,017
adults 18 and older living in private households in the continental United
States. The survey was conducted June 10-13, 2004, within days of the death
of former President Ronald Reagan. The margin of error among all adults is
plus or minus 3 percentage points.
ABOUT RESULTS FOR AMERICA
Results for America (http://www.ResultsforAmerica.org) is a project of the
Civil Society Institute, which is based in Newton, Massachusetts. The mission
of CSI is to serve as a catalyst for change by creating problem-solving
interactions among people, and between communities, government and business,
that can help to improve society. You may visit Civil Society Institute on
the Web at http://www.CivilSocietyInstitute.org.
RFA seeks to shape and tap the tremendous amount of community-level
knowledge, experience and innovative action that could solve America's
problems in four key areas, including: "Healthy Families, Healthy Economy,
Healthy America." It also supports a commitment to biomedical technologies
and breakthrough treatments and cures for life-threatening illnesses that
affect millions of us.
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