Martha’s minions may be loyal – and growing – but even they think her megawatt star power got her a pretty sweet deal in the criminal-justice system.
In a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, 52 percent of those surveyed Aug. 5-7 held a favorable opinion of Martha Stewart – a huge spike from the 33 percent in 2003, when more than half of those surveyed gave her a thumbs down.
She’s even more popular now than back in those trouble-free pre-jail days of October 1999, when the style-setting domestic diva enjoyed a 49 percent favorable rating.
Her new fans also think she’s just like you and me – with 62 percent insisting that she does not act like she’s above the law.
Yet when asked if they thought their idol would have been treated differently if not for her celebrity, 45 percent went with more harshly and 34 percent with less severely.
Meanwhile, nearly half think her stint in jail will have little effect on her career – and 39 percent think it will boost it.
The poll, based on phone interviews with 1,004 adults, has a 3 percentage-point margin of error.
Stewart served five months for lying to investigators about a stock sale. Her five-month house arrest was extended three weeks after The Post printed a picture of her apparently violating the terms of her home confinement.