Steroids a Strike Against Baseball

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- Steroid-tainted slugger Rafael Palmeiro's suspension for violating Major League Baseball's policy on performance-enhancing drugs is over. However, the controversy surrounding his reported positive test for the anabolic steroid stanozolol will continue.

The Baltimore Orioles first baseman was considered a lock for the Hall of Fame after recording hit 3,000 last month, becoming only the fourth player in baseball history with 3,000 hits and 500 home runs. While the decision will be left to members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll conducted Aug. 5-7 shows fans are divided on whether Palmeiro should receive the sport's highest honor. Forty-six percent of fans believe Palmeiro should be elected to the Hall of Fame, while 40% believe he should not and 14% have no opinion. Other star players who have faced steroid allegations received much higher support for being elected.

Ironically, Palmeiro received the benefit of the doubt from fans following his testimony before a congressional committee earlier this year in which he denied ever having used steroids -- a denial that now is the subject of a perjury investigation by members of Congress. Despite being named as a steroid user by former teammate Jose Canseco, the March 18-20 poll found just 30% of fans believed Palmeiro had actually used illegal steroids. By comparison, that same poll found 77% of fans believed Mark McGwire had used steroids, 75% believed this of Barry Bonds, and 62% said this about Palmeiro's current teammate, Sammy Sosa. During the congressional hearing, McGwire declined to answer questions about steroid use, while Sosa denied ever having used illegal performance-enhancing drugs. Bonds is reported to have told a federal grand jury investigating the BALCO case that he may have unknowingly used steroids.

Steroid Allegations Upset Fans

Palmeiro is the most prominent of eight players suspended so far this season for steroid violations. The Aug. 5-7 poll finds little change in fan support for the game since the season started. Just 47% of American adults consider themselves at least somewhat of a fan of baseball now, almost the same as the 48% in March following the congressional hearings, 48% in January, and 52% last December after the Boston Red Sox won the World Series in October.

One thing remains clear, though -- the sport's fans are not pleased with the steroid problem and baseball's response. Three in 10 fans say steroids are "ruining the game," while 56% say steroid use is a serious problem, but isn't ruining the game. Despite an agreement between Major League Baseball and the players' union to toughen the sport's steroid-testing program after the congressional hearings in March, nearly two in three fans (63%) say the new program doesn't go far enough.

Congressional Action Likely

In addition to the perjury investigation of Palmeiro, several members of Congress have proposed the "Drug Free Sports Act of 2005," which would establish uniform standards for drug-testing programs in professional sports.

Whether Congress takes such an action, the Aug. 5-7 poll finds baseball fans are more likely to trust baseball than Congress to handle the problem. Fifty-nine percent have either a "great deal" or "moderate amount" of trust in Major League Baseball, compared with 40% who have the same levels of trust in Congress. Even as fans admit baseball's new testing program still does not go far enough, trust in the sport has increased since March, when 50% said that baseball could be trusted to clean up its own problem. Trust in Congress to resolve the steroid problem remains essentially unchanged from March, when 38% expressed their trust in the legislative body. It could be that trust in Congress would increase if it passes a law that effectively curbs steroid use.

These results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,004 adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Aug. 5-7, 2005. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is ±3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

For results based on the sample of 483 baseball fans, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±5 percentage points.

41. Are you a fan of professional baseball, or not?

42. Which comes closest to your view of steroid use among Major League Baseball players -- it is ruining the game, it is a serious problem, but it is not ruining the game, it is not a serious problem, or it has made the game better?

BASED ON 483 BASEBALL FANS

43. How much do you trust [RANDOM ORDER]to handle the issue of steroid use by major league players -- a great deal, a moderate amount, not much, or not at all?

BASED ON 483 BASEBALL FANS

A. Major League Baseball

B. Congress

44. As you may know, Major League Baseball and the players' union agreed on a stricter steroid-testing program earlier this year. Based on what you have heard or read about this program, do you think it is basically fine as it is, does it go too far, or does it not go far enough in addressing the issue of steroids in baseball?

BASED ON 483 BASEBALL FANS

45. Do you think -- [RANDOM ORDER] -- should or should not be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame?

BASED ON 483 BASEBALL FANS