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NEW YORK Mitt Romney has vowed to cut government funding for Big Bird and his PBS friends, but the results of a new poll indicate the Republican candidate might be out of step with most Americans on this issue.
A survey of 800 likely voters, commissioned by The Washington Times and conducted by the polling firm Zogby from Friday through Sunday, found that 55 percent of voters oppose cuts in spending to public television and consider it a “worthwhile” use of federal funds.
In contrast, only 35 percent of voters believe “the government cannot afford to subsidize public television.”
Although defunding PBS has been a conservative legislative priority since at least the mid-’90s, the poll’s results suggest that public television enjoys bipartisan support.
That may be why the Obama campaign was so quick to seize upon the “Save Big Bird” meme.
Tuesday the campaign released a satirical new ad that shows images of convicted financiers, including Bernie Madoff and Enron’s Ken Lay, and suggests Romney believes Big Bird is responsible for their crimes.
“Big, yellow, a menace to our economy,” the ad says. “Mitt Romney knows it’s not Wall Street you have to worry about, it’s Sesame Street.”
But Big Bird refuses to be anyone’s political pawn: Within hours of the video’s release, Sesame Workshop issued a statement requesting the spot be pulled. Associated Press contributed.
