Interest In Simpson Trial Not As Great As Media Indicates, UB Survey Finds

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Americans appear to have tuned out the O.J. Simpson double-murder trial, and are not following the events as closely as the extensive media coverage would indicate, according to a national survey conducted by a University at Buffalo researcher.

The survey of 1,500 adults conducted in April by Gerald M. Goldhaber, Ph.D., associate professor of communication at UB, also found that respondents clearly favored the prosecution team over the defense team in the trial of the former football player accused of killing his ex-wife and her friend.

The survey findings seem to contradict the media's belief that America is obsessed with the trial and craves the extensive coverage that is being provided by Court TV, CNN, the networks and tabloid shows. Only 9.7 percent of respondents were following the trial "very closely," while 24.1 percent were following it "not at all closely." Thirty-three percent of respondents were following the trial "not very closely," while 31.5 percent were following it "somewhat closely."

Respondents who have been following the trial closely were more likely to believe that Simpson is guilty of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman and should be convicted, with 47.5 percent of these respondents holding this opinion, compared to 35.3 percent of respondents who have not been following the trial closely.

Overall, nearly 40 percent of respondents believed Simpson is guilty and should be convicted of the murders, but only 9.3 percent thought Simpson actually would be convicted.

€ Respondents clearly favored the prosecution team of Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden over the defense team of Johnnie Cochran, Jr., F. Lee Bailey and Robert Shapiro. Of those surveyed, 44.5 percent rated the prosecution team as either "excellent" or "good," while only 32.8 percent rated the defense team this way.

Furthermore, the number of respondents who assigned a rating of "poor" for the defense team far outweighed those who assigned this rating to the prosecution team, with 12.5 percent of respondents rating the defense as poor, compared with only 6.4 percent for the prosecution.

€ Race appears to play an important role in what some have called the "trial of the century." The poll found that 42.6 percent of white respondents believed that Simpson is guilty and should be convicted, but only 6.7 percent of African-American respondents shared this opinion. Conversely, 8.3 percent of whites and 32 percent of African Americans did not believe Simpson is guilty. The survey reported that 45.7 percent of whites and 53.3 percent of African Americans had no opinion, while 3.4 percent and 8 percent, respectively, refused to answer the question.

"The race card among the jurors of this case may be a pivotal factor in determining the outcome of this trial," Goldhaber said, noting that although the percentages of whites and African Americans who had no opinions were large, those who had an opinion had a strong opinion, and that opinion was clearly divided by race.

Although the survey indicated that whites and African Americans were at odds over whether Simpson is guilty or innocent, there seemed to be a general consensus among both races that Simpson will not be convicted, he added. Only 9.2 percent of whites and 4 percent of African Americans believed that Simpson will be convicted.

The sampling error of the survey is approximately +/- 3 percent at the 95 percent confidence level, meaning that if the study was to be repeated using samples of the same size drawn from the same population, results within this margin of error would be obtained 95 times out of 100.

Goldhaber can be reached at 716-689-3311.