60 Minutes/Vanity Fair Poll: October Edition

Welcome to the 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll for October. October is one of the best and busiest months of the year in America. The weather is beautiful and people are busy in all facets of their lives. It is the only month when all four major sports leagues will be in action (if the NHL lockout ends). There is something for everybody. Brilliant foliage for the leaf peepers, Halloween for the kids, and outdoor activities of all kinds. Colleges and high schools are in full gear engaging and encouraging our next generation to do good and to do well. Baseball will crown a World Champion, and speaking of the World Series, there is the World Series of politics known as the 2012 presidential election. It could well be decided by the way the candidates project and conduct themselves in the October debates. All of America will be watching.

And now the results of our poll...

Nine out of 10 Americans say they are not swayed by celebrities who publicly support presidential candidates. Celebrities have every right to express their opinions but they will learn something important in the process. Americans don't need any help in choosing a president. They like to vote for the candidate of their own choice.

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Seven out of 10 Americans do not consider Scientology to be a "true religion." Eighteen percent don't know and 13 percent think that it is a true religion. Seventy-five percent of Christians said no, and surprisingly, 60 percent of Americans with no religious preference agreed with that. Even with such a low number affirming it to be a true religion, it's a tribute to America's tradition of religious tolerance that Scientology is accepted throughout the country.

Over half (52 percent) of Americans think that unlimited spending on political advertising has been bad for our democracy. Thirty-seven percent think that our political system is already plenty messy and that it hasn't made much difference. Only four percent of Americans think it has been good for our democracy. It's a little surprising that it wasn't one percent.

Forty-one percent of Americans said that if they saw a family trying to cross the border illegally from Mexico they would report them. Thirty-percent said they would look the other way and 18 percent said they would help them. America is full of compassionate people, but it is also a nation of laws. Immigration is a hot-button issue because it lies in the intersection of these divergent facts.

Americans prefer their own royalty over England's. Nineteen percent chose the reigning first family as that which they would most want their children to marry into. Eighteen percent chose Camelot and the nostalgia of the Kennedy years. Sixteen percent chose the British royal family, followed by the star studded Jolie-Pitt family and the reality of the Kardashian clan. A large portion of Americans (40 percent) aren't "married" to any of them.

Remember Jack Benny's great line when he was held up by a robber who said, "Your money or your life"? After a long wait the robber says, well what will it be? Benny says, I'm thinking.... The modern version of that question goes your smart phone or your wallet? Seventy-four percent of Americans would rather lose their smart phone and only 20 percent would prefer to lose their wallet. It's not really about the cash. Anyone who has had to stand in line for a new license or deal with getting new credit cards understands why.

This month's fantasy question is a prize. Forty percent of Americans would compete to have a gold medal on their mantle. Thirty-six percent report that they would love a Pulitzer. Seven percent act like they would want an Oscar, six percent would sing joyously for a Grammy and two percent would come center stage for a Tony.

Americans love their beef and nearly a third of them (32 percent) would have a hard time giving it up. Next up is chicken with 26 percent, the other white meat pork with five percent and lamb with five percent. The final third of Americans (31 percent) said they could give them all up easily. With destructive droughts and floods creating havoc with our future food and feed supplies we may not have much choice in the matter.

Three out of four Americans knew that John Wilkes Booth shot the man that many think was our greatest president. Seven percent mistook him for Lee Harvey Oswald and the rest either did not know or guessed incorrectly. Nearly 150 years after the fact, it is amazing how well the memory of Abraham Lincoln and his story have been preserved.

This poll was conducted at the CBS News interviewing facility among a random sample of 1,027 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone August 22-26, 2012. Phone numbers were dialed from random digit dial samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher.

This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls. To read more about this poll, click here