STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

The idea for this problem comes from a piece in the New York Times, 23 January 1992, by John Tierney, p. 1, entitled, Sound Bites Become Smaller Mouthfulls. The following data was given on the average uninterrupted time (in seconds) during which a Presidential candidate spoke in an appearance in the evening news for the years 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988.

Input := 

TimeList = {{1968,43.1}, {1972,25.2}, {1976, 18.2}, 
			{1980,12.2}, {1984,9.9}, {1988,8.9}};

Input := 

p1 = ListPlot[TimeList,PlotStyle->{PointSize[.02]},
PlotRange->{{1965,1996},{0,50}},
AxesLabel->{"Year", "SoundBite"}]

Output =

-Graphics-

The article says, "If this decline - 3.4 seconds in two years, or 0.17 seconds per yearover 20 years - were to continue at a linear rate, the average sound bite in 1992 would be 2 seconds long, perhaps something along the lines of `Me President, you voter.' A more conservative extrapolation would be in the range of 6.5 to 8.5 seconds, which could be enough for a complete clause."

Based on this data, what do you predict will be the average sound bite for the Presidential candidates on the evening news in 1996?