CONNERY. SEAN CONNERY. IS THE CLEAR

FAVORITE AMONG BONDS
 
ACADEMY AWARDS A DISTANT THIRD BEHIND

STATE OF THE UNION AND THE SUPER BOWL AS THE MOST IMPORTANT TELEVISION EVENT

IRAQ BEATS VIETNAM AS MOST UNPOPULAR WAR

 BY JUST 2 PERCENT
 
PRESIDENT ALEXANDER HAMILTON? MOST AMERICANS

THINK HE WAS

         New York, N.Y. — Americans are still in love with their first James Bond. The president’s State of the Union address threw the Super Bowl for a loss and squashed the Academy Awards as the most important television event. Iraq inched by Vietnam as Americans’ most unpopular war. And most Americans think Alexander Hamilton was a U.S. president. Those are some of the insights from the latest 60 MINUTES/Vanity Fair Poll, the results of which can be found in the April edition of Vanity Fair and online at 60minutes.com and VF.com. Go to the Poll.

        Americans were also asked what they would change about their spouses, the most desirable number of children to have, and how many guns they own.

        Despite the fact that his heyday playing 007 was over 40 years ago, Sean Connery slays the competition when it comes to Americans’ favorite Bond actor. Fifty-six percent picked him over the other Bonds. Roger Moore, who played the character the most, with seven films over 12 years, was a weak third at 9 percent, beaten by Pierce Brosnan at 10 percent, who played Bond in four films. The latest Bond, Daniel Craig, came in at 7 percent, with George Lazenby and Timothy Dalton managing just 1 percent each.

        The president’s State of the Union address beat the Super Bowl and romped over the Academy Awards as the most important televised event to Americans. Fifty-one percent among all polled picked the president’s speech and just 32 percent the big game, despite the fact that the Super Bowl draws nearly three times the audience that the president’s annual speech does. The Academy Awards finished a distant third with just 9 percent. The numbers were similar among those aged 30 and older, but the younger crowd (18-29) was divided, with the game and the speech each garnering 40 percent.

        Among all Americans, more thought Iraq (39 percent) was the war the U.S. should most have avoided, followed closely by Vietnam (37 percent). But broken down by political affiliation and age, it’s a different story. The Vietnam War was the one most to avoid for Republicans, who picked it over Iraq 51 to 22 percent, while Democrats chose Iraq by a 56 to 30 percent margin.

        He was never in the White House, but he’s on the $10 bill. Maybe that’s what influenced most respondents when they failed to pick Alexander Hamilton as the non-president among a list that included real presidents Millard Fillmore, Benjamin Harrison, and Andrew Jackson. Just 24 percent correctly chose Hamilton as never being president, while 36 percent picked Fillmore and 27 percent chose Harrison. Only 5 percent thought Andrew Jackson, whose face fronts the $20 bill, was never president. The more educated the respondents, the more likely they were to choose Hamilton as the non-president.

       Elsewhere in the poll, 51 percent of all those polled thought two was the ideal number of children to have in a family; the majority (68 percent) said “nothing at all” when asked what they would change about their spouses; and most Americans (67 percent) say they do not own a gun.

       The April issue of Vanity Fair will be available on newsstands in New York and L.A. on Feb. 29 and nationally and on the iPad, Nook, and Kindle on March 7. 

       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 1,185 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone Jan. 20-23, 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.