PRNewswire

ROCHESTER, N.Y., May 7, 2007 — A recent Harris Poll reported that only 25 percent of the public gave Vice President Dick Cheney positive ratings while fully 68 percent rated him negatively, but a new Harris Poll shows that most people do not agree with his critics who think he is too powerful or that he is a bad influence on President George W. Bush.

Many people, between 23 percent and 32 percent, are not sure whether or not various statements about him (3 positive, 3 negative) are good descriptions of him.

These are some of the results of a Harris Poll of 2,563 adults surveyed online between April 10 and 16, 2007 by Harris Interactive.

Unsurprisingly, the overall picture that emerges from this poll shows substantially more negative than positive attitudes toward Cheney.

A 56 percent to 21 percent majority of all adults believe he favors the rich over the middle class, and a 46 percent to 26 percent plurality does not believe he usually tells the truth. However, those with an opinion are almost equally split on whether he is too powerful (38 percent to 38 percent), a strong manager (37 percent to 36 percent) and whether he is a good person (36 percent to 34 percent).

And only 30 percent believe he is a bad influence on President Bush compared to 38 percent who do not believe so. Perhaps the most surprising findings are that so many people do not have opinions as to whether or not the six phrases are good descriptions of him.

It is no surprise that Republicans feel much more positively about the Vice President than Democrats or that the attitudes of Independents fall between them.

For example, while 74 percent of Democrats think he favors the rich over the middle class, only 33 percent of Republicans feel this way. Two thirds (66 percent) of Republicans think Dick Cheney is a “good person”, while only 17 percent of Democrats agree. And 56 percent of Republicans believe he “usually tells the truth”, a view shared by only 10 percent of Democrats.

One of the issues hanging over the Vice President’s office was the trial of his former Chief of Staff, Lewis “Scooter” Libby for obstruction of justice and perjury regarding the release of the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

A question that lingered throughout the trial and into the guilty verdict for Libby was the role of the Vice President regarding this whole affair. Over half (54 percent) of those who have heard of the trial say that Libby is protecting the Vice President while just one in five (20 percent) say the Libby is mainly to blame. Again, there is a sense of uncertainty regarding the Vice President as one-quarter (26 percent) is not sure.

While over three-quarters of Democrats (78 percent) say that Libby is protecting the Vice President, Republicans are conflicted on this question. Just one- quarter (24 percent) say Libby is protecting the Vice President and one-third of Republicans (32 percent) say Libby is mainly to blame, but 43 percent of Republicans are not sure.

Overall the biggest surprise is how many Democrats and Republicans do not feel strongly enough to either agree or disagree with these general statements about the Vice President. Taken as a whole, these Harris Poll results suggest that the Vice President is not quite the lightning rod for public hostility seen by some of the media, nor quite the ogre seen by some of his critics.