Hillary Broke The Mold

(CBS)  Americans have often been polarized in their view of outgoing first lady and incoming Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, but a new CBS News poll finds that most Americans believe she has changed the role of first lady for the better.

Four out of five people polled think the changes in the role of the president's wife have been improvements. By a wide margin, those who see changes approve of them; women and young people are especially approving.

HAS HILLARY CLINTON CHANGED ROLE OF FIRST LADY?
	Yes	No
	55%	41%

But evidence still remains of Clinton's polarizing impact. Even though she now enjoys her highest-ever approval rating for the job she has done as first lady, she is leaving the White House less well-liked than first ladies Barbara Bush and Nancy Reagan.

Clinton's ratings don't come close to the positive views the public had of Bush and Reagan as they left the White House. Views of Bush were 71 percent favorable and six percent unfavorable. Opinions of Reagan were 56 percent positive, and 18 percent negative.

n the most recent poll, 74 percent approve of the job Clinton has done, and 21 percent disapprove. In January 1996, her job approval hit an all-time low, with only 42 percent approving and 47 percent disapproving. But just after the Lewinsky scandal broke, her job approval ratings rose.

Public opinion of Clinton has swung enormously over the years. The CBS News poll shows 47 percent of those polled now have a positive view of her, and 28 percent have a negative view. This is a large improvement since 1996, when negative views of her outpaced positive views, sometimes by as much as ten percentage points.

There are large differences in views of Clinton by gender. Women have a more favorable view of her - 54 to 24 percent - than men, whose opinion is more evenly divided at 38 percent favorable to 33 percent unfavorable.

Views of incoming First Lady Laura Bush are positive rather than negative by ten to one, but many don't yet know much about her. Thirty percent of those polled say they have a positive image of her, while three percent have a negative image. But two thirds are undecided or don't know enough yet to have an opinion. There are no differences in views of Laura Bush by gender.

But that is not unusual for a new first lady. These evaluations are similar to what other incoming First Ladies confront. As President Clinton entered office in 1993, Hillary Clinton received 38 percent favorable ratings and 10 percent unfavorable ratings. In January 1989, views of Barbara Bush were 37 percent favorable and three percent unfavorable. Opinions of Nancy Reagan were 28 percent positive, and 10 percent negative.

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This poll was conducted by telephone January 15-17, 2001, among 1,086 adults nationwide. The error due to sampling could be plus or minus three percentage points for results based on the entire sample. Sampling error for subgroups may be higher.