MOST AMERICANS THINK IT LIKELY THE U.S. WILL SEND MORE TROOPS TO THE MIDDLE EAST IN THE NEXT TWO YEARS
 
MORE AMERICANS WOULD RATHER BE CONSIDERED A RACIST THAN A LIAR

PRIDE IS THE MOST TEMPTING OF THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS FOR AMERICANS

         New York, N.Y.— Most Americans think it is likely that a serious commitment of U.S. troops will be sent somewhere in the Middle East within the next two years; pride is the most tempting of the seven deadly sins; and more of us would prefer to be called a racist than a liar. Those are some of the insights from the latest 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair Poll, the results of which can be found in the May issue of Vanity Fair and online at 60minutes.com and VF.com.  Go to the poll.

         Barely two months after the official end of an eight-year commitment of U.S. forces in Iraq, most Americans think it is at least somewhat likely that U.S. troops will be sent back to the Middle East within the next two years.  Eighty-two percent of Americans think a serious commitment of troops is at least somewhat likely, including 43 percent who think it is very likely. Just 13 percent of those polled believe it is not very likely or not at all likely.

        When asked which label would hurt them most if they knew someone would apply it to them, slightly more Americans picked “liar” (42 percent) than “racist” (36 percent). Republicans and independents picked “liar” as the more hurtful label, while more democrats chose “racist.” Few Americans would care if someone considered them “cheap” (8 percent), “neurotic” (3 percent), or ugly (2 percent).

        Which of the seven deadly sins—lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy or pride—are Americans most susceptible to? Thirty-five percent say pride. Gluttony (13 percent), envy (13 percent) and lust (12 percent) follow, while sloth and wrath receive only five percent and three percent of the votes, respectively. Though men and women choose pride first, men are more likely than women to choose lust, while women are more prone to gluttony and envy than men.

        Eight years after the cancellation of the long-running NBC sitcom Friends, more men identify with the character of Chandler (17 percent) while more women identify with Rachel (17 percent), though most (53 percent) have no opinion at all.

        Elsewhere in the poll, a majority of those polled (55 percent) say if they were playing a violin on the deck of the stricken Titanic, they would head straight for the lifeboats, rather than play until the bitter end (15 percent). And seven in ten Americans (69 percent) say they don’t think they could live in a country without democracy.

        The May issue of Vanity Fair will be available on newsstands in New York and L.A. on April 5 and nationally and on the iPad, Nook and Kindle on April 10.
 
        The 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair Poll is a monthly measure of the American conversation on a range of topics rather than one specific subject. Geared to offer a wide-angle view of the country every 30 days, the questions explore attitudes on culture, lifestyle, current events and politics. 60 Minutes and Vanity Fair work together to formulate topics and questions; the poll is conducted by the CBS News Election and Survey Unit, a high-profile source of American opinion since 1969.    

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Press Contacts:
Kevin Tedesco, 212-975-2329, kev@cbsnews.com 
Beth Kseniak, 212-286-7297, beth_kseniak@condenast.com

This poll was conducted at the CBS News interviewing facility among a random sample of 1,125 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone February 24-27, 2012. Phone numbers were dialed from random-digit dial samples of both standard landline and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.