72% Say Celebrities Get Special Treatment When They Break the Law
Most Americans don’t think the laws they live under apply to the rich and famous in quite the same way.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of American Adults shows that 72% believe celebrities get preferential treatment when they break the law. Only eight percent (8%) disagree, while 20% more are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Americans have expressed similar concerns about star athletes. An overwhelming majority (78%) say colleges and universities give athletes special preference rather than hold them to the same academic and behavior standards as other students.
Many have criticized the U.S. media for providing a platform for misbehaving celebrities such as actor Charlie Sheen who has recently been in the news. Most Americans (71%) share an unfavorable opinion of Sheen.
But while most adults are critical of the media coverage of celebrities, they also admit that they pay too much attention to such news.
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The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on March 1-2, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
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