Public opinion snapshot: BP needs to pay up, clean up

Tony Hayward, CEO of BP, appeared before a House committee last week and mostly refused to answer questions. He did, however, receive an apology from Joe Barton of Texas, who characterized the new $20 billion compensation fund for those hurt by the oil disaster as "a shakedown" of BP and "a tragedy."

But that's not the way the public feels about this new fund. They approve of it by an overwhelming 82-18 margin in a new CNN poll, as CAP's public opinion expert Ruy Teixeira explains in t...