Poll at Odds With Katie Couric Move

NBC 'Today' show co-host Katie Couric appears during a segment of the television program in New York's Rockefeller Center, Wednesday April 5, 2006. On her 15th anniversary on 'Today,' Couric told viewers Wednesday she's leaving NBC to join CBS, where she will become the first woman appointed to anchor a network evening newscast alone. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

This is different. If you haven't already heard, NBC Today Show's sweetheart Katie Couric is moving to CBS to become "the first woman to anchor a network weekday evening newscast alone."

Now I'm not going into the details of the Couric move. I don't watch the network evening newscasts anyways, and I certainly don't watch the Today Show--or any of the morning newscasts. Now, I'm pretty sure that after 15 years co-hosting the Today Show, Couric was ready for a change, and to move on to greater challenges. So I'll leave it at that.

But there is an interesting story regarding Couric's move from NBC's Today Show to The CBS Evening News. Yahoo News came out with a poll regarding the Couric move:

NEW YORK - Now that Katie Couric is making the move from dawn to dusk, her legacy and the future of CBS News depends on an audience that, according to a new poll, prefers to see her in the morning.

Asked if they would rather see Couric in her longtime role as "Today" host or as the first woman to anchor a network weekday evening newscast on her own, 49 percent favored the morning and 29 percent said evening, according to a poll conducted this week by The Associated Press and TV Guide.

Despite the public's initial wariness, the poll suggests that Couric is making the transition at a good time. More than half of those polled, 55 percent, have a favorable view of Couric. That's comparable to the favorable views toward NBC anchor Brian Williams and interim CBS anchor Bob Schieffer, while higher than ABC's Elizabeth Vargas.

The AP-TV Guide poll of 615 adults was conducted by Ipsos on Monday and Tuesday. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

It would appear that the American public has gotten use to waking up with their morning cup of coffee, and Katie Couric. And while the American public would still would like to wake up with Katie in the morning, they continue to have a favorable view of her, which could provide an easier transition when the American public will be sitting down to have dinner with Katie.