Another Lesson About Pubkic Opinion Summary

according to the article, "Nixon, Watergate, and the Study of Presidency", President Nixon had an undesirable relationship with the press. the author stated that his dislike for the reporters was the key to him brutally criticized by the media. the author continued that even when they had to report good news about the President, it did not come unblemished. there was one or more negative statements about him. So in consideration, the press is in one way the public and voters. the president is meant to be striving for public approval and trust even if he did not like them at times. president nixon should not have expressed a dislike of the press. he should have foreseen that the press would have worked toward damaging his reputation more if he were to do something wrong in their eyes. they would not give a reasonable doubt or be lenient toward his actions or mistakes.

but what does the public, other than the press think about president nixon before and after his watergate scandal?

in an article published in the Social Science Quarterly called "The Impact of Watergate on the Public's Trust in People and Confidence in the Mass Media", the author reveals his research and it shows that public had high regard for president Nixon's moral character before the watergate scandal but it has plummeted greatly afterwards. moreover, distrust in public officials in general had an impact on the publics trust. people had more distrust of others in general and not just public ifficals. the author states that this is the effect that public officials actions had on the people.

another scandal that had the public in awe was the clinton lewinski scandal during the president clinton administration.

according to an article named "Another Lesson about Pubkic Opinion" by Stephen Earl Bennett, when looking at public approval ratings of president clinton regarding the scandal was a shock. the author explains that although the ratings have dropped in the beginning of the scandal, it remained high through out the scandal. he stated that the reason for that is the public saw president clinton was effective regardless of his loose morality. in this case, the public seemed to accept the idea that not all public officials will be completely flawless when it comes to morality. also the public had chosen to to look at the situation as having a glass half full of water instead of it being half empty. after all, if president clinton is getting his duties done in his term in office, the public may possible be able to forgive him for his mistakes regarding the Lewknski

scsndal.

it seems that Stanley A. Renshon, author of "The Publics response to the clinton scandal" has asked the same questions. he raised questions of whether the public is apathetic about presidents immoralities or they have just chosen to ignore the obvious flaws of the leaders of our country. it seems the public may have decided that it is more effective to just keep the one who is effective but have flaws than to trust someone else new? or they may not just want to admit that their decision to have clinton as the president was wrong on their part. either way, the public has decided to stick with what they have chosen in the first place which is president clinton and his effectiveness as the commander in chief.