Poll of Coloradans indicates little split along gender lines

By Charlie Brennan, © 2003, Rocky Mountain News
December 19, 2003

EAGLE - More than one in three Coloradans believe Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant is innocent of sexually assaulting a young Eagle County woman, according to a statewide Rocky Mountain News/News 4 poll.

Thirty-five percent of those polled said they don't think he's guilty of the charge, compared with 22 percent who think he's guilty. Another 41 percent said they had not decided on Bryant's guilt or innocence. Two percent did not answer the question.

The poll found virtually no gender gap on the guilt-innocence question, with 36 percent of men and 34 percent of women saying they believe he probably isn't guilty. Twenty percent of men and 24 percent of women said they think he's guilty.

However, there does appear to be a divide along racial lines.

The survey indicated that 41 percent of minorities polled said they think Bryant, who is black, is probably not guilty. That compares with 34 percent of whites who don't think he committed the crime. Twelve percent of minorities said they think he's guilty, compared with 25 percent of whites.

Also, 70 percent of the respondents said television should not be permitted to air live coverage of Bryant's trial, while 24 percent approved and another 6 percent answered "don't know," or would not answer.

A total of 400 registered voters across Colorado were surveyed Monday and Tuesday by Public Opinion Strategies, a Denver polling firm. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

"I think certainly the most stunning area to me is that there is basically no difference between men and women's attitudes on Kobe, guilty or innocent, based on what they've heard so far," said Lori Weigel, a partner at Public Opinion Strategies.

"One might have assumed that women would be more inclined to either hold back an opinion, or to side with the alleged victim, and that's certainly not the case here, so far. It certainly shows that women are not the sympathetic ear that the prosecution might have hoped - at least in the court of public opinion."

Bryant, free on a $25,000 bond on the third-degree felony charge, is due in Eagle District Court today for a daylong motions hearing in the case, the first of several that will be needed for lawyers on both sides to hammer out pretrial ground rules.

The NBA star's trial, likely to run two to three weeks, is not expected to begin before late spring or early summer, at the soonest.

The poll did not break down responses by county or region of the state.

Eagle County, where the trial will take place - unless pretrial publicity issues force a move to another jurisdiction - is 74 percent white, 23 percent Hispanic, with blacks and other ethnicities making up the remaining 3 percent.

According to the 2000 census, there were 142 blacks in Eagle County, which claimed, at that time, a population of 41,659.

Avon defense lawyer Jim Fahrenholtz, formerly a chief trial deputy in the Eagle County District Attorney's Office, saw the poll responses as positive for Bryant.

"I think those are very good numbers for him," Fahrenholtz said.

"Quite honestly, I think most people associate that, when someone is charged, they're guilty. But it sounds like only about one out of five people think he's guilty, which is sure a smaller number than if you were to ask them about some other people who have been charged."

The most dramatic numbers in the poll were those indicating that seven of 10 people believe the trial should not be televised live - that's an issue that is far from being settled.

"There is no stomach for 'O.J. II,' " Weigel said.

That came as a surprise to Denver attorney Tom Kelley, a First Amendment specialist who will likely be in the middle of legal arguments in support of live-camera coverage, if and when that battle is fought.

"I don't think they (the poll numbers) should affect the outcome of any court determination on expanded media coverage. I'm a little surprised it is quite so high, because I think the proceedings in this case have always been conducted in a dignified fashion."

Copyright 2003, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.