While about a quarter of Americans are withholding judgment, a solid majority thinks Scott Peterson (search) was involved in his wife’s death.
Today, 72 percent of Americans say they think Peterson was involved in the murder of his pregnant wife Laci, up from 65 percent in mid-June. In addition, nearly half (47 percent) think he was "definitely" involved in the murder, according to the latest FOX News national poll conducted by Opinion Dynamics Corporation (search).
Women are more likely than men to think Laci’s husband was involved in her death, with 52 percent of women saying he was definitely involved compared to 42 percent of men. In addition, 63 percent of moms think he was definitely involved compared to 42 percent of dads.
Overall, only four percent of Americans think Scott Peterson was not involved in the murder of his wife.
Peterson and his defense attorneys may take some comfort in the poll findings on jury trials. Almost three-quarters of the public (73 percent) express confidence that most jury trials in the United States reach fair verdicts (17 percent "very" and 56 percent "somewhat" confident). Less than one in five (17 percent) say they are "not very" and only six percent are "not at all" confident in juries reaching fair verdicts.
Polling was conducted by telephone October 28-29, 2003 in the evenings. The sample is 900 registered voters nationwide with a margin of error of ±3 percentage points.
1. How confident are you that most jury trials in the United States reach fair verdicts?
2. Based on what you know right now, do you think Scott Peterson was involved in the murder of his pregnant wife Laci? Is that definitely (involved/not involved) or probably (involved/not involved)?
SCALE: 1. Yes, definitely involved 2. Yes, probably involved 3. No, probably not involved 4. No, definitely not involved 5. (Not sure)
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