Most Aren't Convinced "Sex Addiction" is a Real Medical Condition
 
Most Sympathize /Support or Tolerate the Tea Party Movement 

Half of Americans would support having an openly gay person serving as president and more than half would support a gay Supreme Court justice, secretary of state, Miss America, commissioner of baseball, or Super Bowl quarterback.  More than half either support/sympathize with or tolerate the Tea Party movement.  And when it comes to sex addiction, most Americans aren't convinced it is an actual medical condition. Those are some of the findings in the latest 60 MINUTES/Vanity Fair Poll, the full results of which are published in the May issue of Vanity Fair and posted on 60Minutes.com and VF.com.  Click here to go to the online poll.

            The poll also asked Americans about which Hollywood director they would want to make a movie of their life story, what level of annual household income they would classify as "rich," and how they would characterize their opinion of Jack Kevorkian.

            Fifty percent or more of respondents said they would approve of an openly gay person serving in the following positions: president (50 percent), Supreme Court justice (55 percent), secretary of state (56 percent), Miss America (56 percent), commissioner of baseball (61 percent), and Super Bowl quarterback (62 percent).

            Do Americans believe that sex addiction is an actual medical condition? Thirty-three percent say no, and another 33 percent say, "Maybe, but celebs who have it are jerks." Are the men more sympathetic? No, with only 25 percent of men saying it's legitimate, compared with 32 percent of women.

            How would Americans best describe their view of the Tea Party movement? Overall, 29 percent of respondents said the Tea Party movement is the beginning of a much-needed revolution and 28 percent of respondents said they're just one of many groups speaking out, 15 percent said they are too extreme to be taken seriously, and 18 percent said "Tea party? We drink coffee in this country."   Among party affiliations, it's more divided. Among Republicans, 51 percent said it's the start of a much-needed revolution. Only 11 percent of Democrats thought so, while 29 percent of Dems said they're just one of many groups, 24 percent of them said they're too extreme to be taken seriously, and 25 percent said, "We drink coffee in this country." The Independents were torn: 28 percent said beginning of a revolution, 32 percent said they're just one of many vocal groups, 14 percent said they are too extreme, and 15 percent opted for coffee.
 
            Given the opportunity to get a weeklong, all-access pass to some of the world's most high-profile workplaces, 30 percent of Americans chose the White House over C.I.A. headquarters (20 percent), NASA's Mission Control (19 percent), Buckingham Palace (15 percent), Google's offices (9 percent), or Osama bin Laden's bunker (3 percent). Broken down by gender, 35 percent of women chose the White House, while 23 percent of men chose C.I.A. headquarters and another 23 percent chose NASA. Could it be all the high-tech gadgets?

           
            Speaking of gadgets, asked which highly publicized event they would most likely pay attention to, 28 percent of Americans chose the finale of a big television show over the launch of a new Apple product (22 percent), a new book by J. K. Rowling (18 percent), or a new James Cameron movie (11 percent). Among the men, 29 percent chose the new Apple product launch (again with the gadgets), while 30 percent of women chose the television finale.
 
            The 60 MINUTES/Vanity Fair Poll is a monthly measure of the American conversation on a range of topics rather than one specific subject. Geared to offer a wide-angle view of the country every 30 days, attitudes on culture, lifestyle, current events, and politics are explored to create a national survey. 60 MINUTES and Vanity Fair work together to formulate topics and questions; the poll is conducted by the CBS News Election and Survey Unit, a high-profile source of American opinion since 1969.

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Press Contact:  Kevin Tedesco            212-975-2329                         kev@cbsnews.com

This poll was conducted at the CBS News interviewing facility among a random sample of 967 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone between February 26 and March 1, 2010. Phone numbers were dialed from random-digit dial samples of both standard-landline 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.