A national public opinion survey on President Clinton following the
release of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr’s report to Congress shows
a majority of Americans are ashamed that he is their president.
The Zogby America Poll, released yesterday, also found that
Democratic congressional candidates may be hurt by their support of
Clinton or by his support of them. Though the president’s favorable job
performance rating remains virtually unchanged at 55 percent, a majority
of Americans now have a generally unfavorable view of the president, the
survey found.
A 51.7 percent majority of those polled said they have a very or
somewhat unfavorable overall impression of the president. Only 46.7
percent had a very or somewhat favorable impression, down from 55.1
percent last month.
In the most recent poll, conducted Friday through Sunday, Sept.
11-13, with a sampling of 796 voters, 50.1 percent said they were
ashamed to have Clinton as their president, up from 31 percent in July.
A 65.9 percent majority said, overall, Clinton is a negative role
model — up from 63.2 percent last February. Only 22.2 percent said he
was a positive role model.
More than 35 percent of those surveyed said they would be less likely
to vote for a congressional candidate who voiced support for the
president. Only 13.1 percent said they would be more likely to vote for
such a candidate.
If Clinton personally campaigned for a congressional candidate, 12.5
percent said they would be more likely to vote for the candidate, while
35.4 percent said they would be less likely.
The country is evenly split on the question of whether Clinton should
consider leaving office — with 45.3 percent saying he should and 46.4
percent saying he shouldn’t. However, if it is determined that he
encouraged anyone to lie under oath, 60.1 percent think he should
consider leaving and only 32.1 percent say he shouldn’t. Likewise, if it
is determined that he lied under oath in his grand jury testimony, 57.3
percent say he should consider leaving, while 35.5 percent say he
shouldn’t.
“The independent counsel’s report has clearly had an impact on how
voters now see President Clinton,” commented pollster John Zogby. “While
his job performance is unscathed, this is as much a passive measurement
as it is an active one: i.e., Americans like the direction the country
is headed in and give the president credit for that. Perhaps the most
damaging sign in this new poll is that congressional Democrats will be
hurt much more than helped if the president either campaigns for them or
receives their vocal support. That in itself could produce more pressure
for the president to step down before his term ends. For the first time,
a majority now have an unfavorable view of the president and are ashamed
to have him as president. This, combined with the two of three who view
him as a negative role model, can only hurt his cause. The notion of
Clinton leaving the presidency is acceptable to large numbers of
voters.”
The Zogby America Poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or
minus 3.6 percent.
