With Martha Stewart's post-indictment publicity drive in high gear, a majority of New Yorkers queried in a poll say they believe she is guilty and should be punished.
The poll, conducted randomly by telephone this week by the Siena Research Institute and released Friday, found that 60 percent of the 567 people interviewed thought Stewart was guilty of insider trading, and 51 percent thought she was guilty of obstruction of justice.
Stewart, the founder and former chairman and chief executive of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, was indicted on June 4 on five counts of conspiracy, making false statements, obstruction of justice and securities fraud.
She pleaded not guilty. She has declared her innocence in a full-page newspaper advertisement, published June 5, and on a Web site, www.marthatalks.com, that she set up to communicate with the public.
The Web site seems to have become a forum on her status as a defendant. About 55,000 e-mail messages have been received, her spokesman said, and the messages posted for public review on the site all vigorously back Stewart.
The Siena poll found that 54 percent of people agreed with her indictment, while 35 percent were opposed to it. Another 11 percent of the respondents were undecided.
Most people (54 percent) thought she should be punished if convicted, while, in a separate question, 46 percent said she had "suffered enough." Only 22 percent said her legal problems would make them think twice about buying her products. The poll has a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points.
"I was a bit surprised," said Douglas Lonnstrom, a director of the research institute at Siena College. "I thought many more people thought she was guilty."
Her spokesman said: "We are gratified by the level of support we are receiving from the public."
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