West Memphis Three Decision Divisive Among Arkansans

Our final question in the latest Talk Business-Hendrix College Poll of state voters tests attitudes on the biggest news story of the summer in Arkansas – the West Memphis Three plea deal.

Nearly one month ago on Friday, August 19, 2011, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr., who were given life sentences or were on Death Row for their convictions in the 1993 murders of three West Memphis children — Christopher Byers, Stevie Branch and Michael Moore – were set free under a deal with prosecutors that allowed them to plead guilty but maintain their innocence.

Roughly two-thirds of Arkansans were familiar with the high-profile murder case, and of those two-thirds slightly more than half viewed the decision to free the West Memphis Three as a bad decision.

Our poll of 2,101 Arkansas voters first asked if respondents were familiar with the West Memphis Three case. Those participants who said yes were directed to a follow-up question regarding the decision, while those who were unfamiliar with the case did not factor in the results.

Q: Are you familiar with the West Memphis Three case?

67%     Yes
33%     No

Q: Do you think the prosecutor’s recent decision to free the West Memphis Three under a guilty plea that allowed them to maintain their innocence was a good decision or a bad decision?

47%     Good decision
53%     Bad decision

Professor of political science at Hendrix College, Dr. Jay Barth, who helped construct and analyze the poll, noted some interesting patterns in the West Memphis Three responses:

• First, Arkansans were deeply engaged in this case, with fully two-thirds following it.
• There were regional patterns in who was following. Interestingly, the most intense region was not the First District -— where the crimes occurred and where legal proceedings continued throughout the last 18 years. Instead, it was in the central Arkansas Second District where just at four in five voters were following the case.  
• The Third and Fourth Districts, while majorities were aware, were less focused on it.
• There was also an interesting age pattern with attention to the case. Younger and older voters were less focused on it than were 30-64 year olds, those who were youngsters and young adults at the time of the murders.
• A slight majority (53-47%) opposed the verdict in what has been a divisive criminal case since the beginning.
• In terms of approval/disapproval of the plea deal, political ideology was the most important variable in determining response to the legal proceedings.
• Obama supporters/Tea Party disapprovers supported it; Obama disapprovers/Tea Party approvers opposed it.
• The Second District voters were evenly split on the ruling, but majorities of residents in other parts of the state opposed.
• In terms of age, those 30-44 (youth and very young adults at the time of the murders) were evenly split; slight majorities of all other age groups were opposed.

You can view a short video of Barth’s analysis below.

POLL BACKGROUND & NOTES
The results of this combined poll came from four polls that were conducted by Talk Business Research and Hendrix College on Thursday, September 15, 2011. The polls were completed using IVR survey technology among registered Arkansas voters in all 4 of the state’s Congressional Districts. A combined 2,101 Arkansas voters were surveyed in the final results, which have a margin of error of +/-2.1%.

All media outlets are welcome to reprint, reproduce, or rebroadcast information from this poll with proper attribution to Talk Business and Hendrix College.

For interviews, Barth can be contacted at [email protected].