WHERE THERE’S SMOKE, THERE’S BOREDOM (REDUX)…. Conducting a national poll isn’t cheap. Why CNN put this one in the field is a mystery.
Most Americans say that President Barack Obama’s struggle to quit smoking doesn’t change their views of him, according to a new national poll.
The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday also indicates that only a third say that they would like to see Obama give up cigarettes completely.
“Obama has admitted that he still smokes on occasion, but nearly nine in 10 Americans say that doesn’t affect their view of him and only 12 percent think that indicates something negative about Obama himself,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “Eighty-five percent believe that shows how hard it is to quit cigarettes.”
This shouldn’t surprise anyone. The president has a personal vice, which affects no one but him, and which he’s trying to overcome. No one really cares.
No one, that is, but national news outlets, which seem to have a certain preoccupation with the issue — including a question at the last presidential press conference, which in turn generated a whole new round of stories on the subject. Now, CNN is even polling on the “story.”
Does the president’s occasional cigarette and difficulty in kicking the habit really deserve this much attention?
