New first lady gets high marks

A new poll says first lady Laura Bush is beginning to enjoy increasingly high marks from Americans and that her overall favorability ratings are increasing just days after husband George W. Bush was sworn in Saturday as the nation's 43rd president.

According to a new Portrait of America poll, Mrs. Bush is viewed favorably by 64 percent of those polled, compared to just 13 percent who view her unfavorably.

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Meanwhile, in the same poll, 55 percent of Americans view Vice President Dick Cheney favorably, while 27 percent hold an unfavorable view.

POA said ratings for both were up from an identical survey taken Jan. 3, but Mrs. Bush's ratings were up more dramatically.

"In the Jan. 3 survey, Mrs. Bush was viewed favorably by 47 percent of voters and unfavorably by 18 percent," POA said. "With a 64 percent favorable rating, the first lady now has the highest favorables of anyone on the political scene today, other than Secretary of State Colin Powell," who is viewed favorably by 80 percent of Americans.

On Jan. 3, Mr. Cheney held an overall favorability rating of 49 percent, compared to 29 percent who viewed him unfavorably.

Other poll results include:

• About 89 percent of Republican voters have a favorable opinion of Cheney, while 4 percent have an unfavorable opinion.
• Nearly 30 percent of Democrats now have a favorable opinion of the vice president, and 48 percent have an unfavorable opinion.

"The partisan split exists for the first lady as well," POA said. Among the GOP, her numbers are off the charts -- 91 percent favorable and 1 percent unfavorable. Among Democrats, 46 percent view her favorably and 23 percent unfavorably, the survey said.

Rasmussen Research conducted this national Portrait of America telephone survey of 750 likely voters on Jan. 21, 2001. The margin of sampling error for the full sample is plus or minus 4 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.