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LIFESTYLE

11% Think Amanda Knox Is Guilty of Murder

Very few Americans believe Amanda Knox is guilty of murdering her flatmate in Italy four years ago, and a plurality feels the media played an important part in overturning her conviction.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of American Adults shows that only 11% believe Knox, a university student from Seattle, is guilty of murder. Forty-four percent (44%) feel she is not guilty of murdering fellow student Meredith Kercher, but a sizable 45% more are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Forty-four percent (44%) of adults believe the media was at least somewhat influential on the Italian appellate court’s decision to overturn Knox’s murder conviction, including 17% who think it was Very Influential. Just 26% don’t believe the media had much influence on the decision, but that includes only six percent (6%) who think it was Not At All Influential. Twenty-nine percent (29%) are not sure.

Forty-two percent (42%) believe the media paid too much attention to the Knox trial, while only five percent (5%) say it paid too little attention to it. Thirty-seven percent (37%) believe the media coverage of the case was about right, while 16% more are undecided.

By comparison, 70% of adults thought the media paid too much attention to the trial of Casey Anthony earlier this year. A majority (61%) felt the Florida woman was guilty of murdering her daughter, although a jury found her not guilty. 

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on October 5-6, 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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