To: Les H who wrote (42746 ) 4/20/1999 11:29:00 PM From: Neocon Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 67261
Johannes-- This is Les's original citation: Weariness with Clinton undermines Gore, poll finds (Adds gore spokesman reaction to poll and gore campaigning in New Hampshire) By Thomas Ferraro WASHINGTON, April 17 (Reuters) - Public weariness with President Bill Clinton's White House scandals have contributed to a drop in the favorability rating of Vice President Al Gore, the front-runner for the 2000 Democratic presidential nomination, a poll released on Saturday showed. The decline was also traced to Gore's own image woes, with many seeing him as ''boring,'' ''weak'' or just ''okay,'' according to the survey by The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. The poll of 1,786 adults, conducted March 24-30, found Gore's favorability rating at 47 percent, down from 58 percent in December. It marked the first time that Gore's favorability rating had slipped below 50 percent since questions in 1997 about his own fund-raising activities. Chris Lehane, a Gore spokesman traveling with the vice president in New Hampshire on Saturday, dismissed the survey findings. ''Polls at this time in a campaign are a lot like sand castles,'' Lehane said. ''They're nice to look at, but they don't mean much.'' While Gore has benefited from Clinton's robust approval rating, which has long stood at more than 60 percent, he has been hurt by public exhaustion with problems that have engulfed the administration, which included the impeachment of Clinton last December by the U.S. House of Representatives. Seventy-four percent of survey respondents agreed with the statement: ''I'm tired of all the problems associated with the Clinton administration.'' Among those who expressed such fatigue, 60 percent said they would vote for Texas Gov. George Bush, the Republican front-runner, over Gore for president next year. The poll found Bush leading Gore by 54 percent to 41 percent, a wider margin than in January, when Bush was up, 50 percent to 44 percent. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. ''It's guilt by association,'' said New Hampshire resident Blaise Zambrano of Gore's proximity to Clinton. Zambrano, who attended a campaign event for Gore on Saturday, said he was an independent who supported former Cabinet Secretary Elizabeth Dole, who is exploring a presidential bid. A variety of surveys show Bush and Gore the leading contenders for their parties's respective presidential nominations next year. Gore's only announced opposition for the Democratic nomination is former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley, while the Republican field is crowded with hopefuls. When asked in the Pew survey to give their impression of Gore in a word or phrase, just 19 percent described him positively -- using words as ''good,'' ''honest,'' and ''competent'' -- down from 32 percent in 1996. The survey found that respondents like Gore ''better as a person'' than Clinton, 52 percent to 34 percent. But fewer see the vice president as ''more caring,'' 34 percent to 50 percent.