Data restored from a 1974 survey indicates that only half of Iowans felt that common news sources reporting on the contents of the transcripts of President Nixon’s audio recordings did so fairly. These results come from Iowa Poll #213, a random sample survey of 601 Iowans in July of 1974 restored as part of IPOL’s work to recover lost data from past Iowa polls.

Out of these respondents, 51.5% and 53.1%, respectively, answered that they thought television and newspapers were fair in reporting the content of Nixon’s transcripts. 68.1% of Democrats and only 32.9% of Republicans viewed television as fair in its reporting compared to 49.2% and 11.6% who thought coverage was unfair, respectively. Opinions on the fairness of newspaper coverage showed a nearly identical split.

Iowa Poll #213, conducted by the Des Moines Register, was administered to a random sample of Iowans in July 1974. In addition to the questions about top problems, the survey asked respondents their opinions on a wide variety of topics, including the economy, inflation, tax policy, and a range of questions related to Watergate. Understanding Iowans’ past opinions on these topics can help us understand how perspectives have changed and what ideas have remained popular. IPOL has also been working with UI Libraries and the Des Moines Register to restore data from dozens of Iowa Polls from the 1960s to early 1980s. More information about the project can be found here. We are working to release a full report on our findings as we analyze additional questions.