Survey: Letterman apology sincere

NEW YORK - A new survey finds that a majority of people believe that David Letterman's apology to Sarah Palin and her daughters was sincere.

Letterman said he was sorry during his Monday night broadcast of his show after he received flak for making a joke about Palin's daughter getting "knocked up" by Yankees player Alex Rodriguez.

"I would like to apologize, especially to the two daughters involved, Bristol and Willow, and also to the governor and her family and everybody else who was outraged by the joke. I'm sorry about it and I'll try to do better in the future," Letterman told the studio audience.

The survey done by HCD Research found that 60 percent of respondents believed that Letterman's apology was genuine. While viewing the video clips, those polled indicated their levels of sincerity by moving their computer mouse from left to right on a continuum.

The study also found that before the apology, 66 percent of viewers thought Letterman's jokes went too far. His likeability, believability and sincerity dropped significantly after viewers saw a clip of the show. After the apology though, his likeability, believability and sincerity increased slightly.