Speakes Decries ‘Sensationalism’ on Reagan Poll

White House spokesman Larry Speakes took issue Tuesday with a Los Angeles Times poll that found only 14% of those interviewed believe that President Reagan’s statement that the Administration did not trade arms for American hostages is “essentially true.”

Speakes said there was “a lot of sensationalism” in reporting the 14% figure, and he urged reporters to look at the poll in its entirety instead of focusing on a single finding. He said, for example, that a vast majority of those questioned--more than 60%--believe that Reagan’s explanation was technically true, although they felt his remarks were misleading.

He apparently arrived at this estimate by adding the results of the poll showing that 14% believe that the President’s statement was “essentially true” with the 49% who said Reagan may have been “technically true but in reality misleading.”

However, Times Poll Director I. A. Lewis, who conducted the survey, said: “I would invite him to find consolation wherever he can. But, it seems to me, (that) to be misleading is something less than the public expects.”

‘A Lot of Splitting Hairs’

Speakes charged that setting up the categories of “essentially true” and “technically true” represented “a lot of splitting hairs in that poll” and may have put a finer point on responses than intended by those surveyed. The Times polled 1,464 adults nationwide by telephone Saturday and Sunday after Reagan delivered a televised explanation of the secret arms shipments to Iran. The margin of error for a poll of this size is estimated to be 3%.

A number of public opinion polls conducted after last week’s speech showed that Reagan had limited success in dispelling the impression that he had swapped U.S. arms for the freedom of three American hostages held by pro-Iranian militants in Lebanon.

Reagan is holding a televised news conference today (5 p.m. PST), his first in more than three months, in an effort to persuade a skeptical public that he did not violate U.S. policy or principles by sending arms to Iran. The President has said that the shipments were designed primarily to improve relations with the Tehran regime and curb state-sponsored terrorism but had “the bonus” of freeing the hostages.

When reporters asked if today’s press conference would be particularly difficult for Reagan because his credibility is on the line, Speakes replied: “It’s not a tough press conference because the President knows the facts and the President tells the facts.”