Poll: Public Backs U.S. Attack
Americans overwhelmingly approve of the U.S. military air strikes against suspected terrorist sites in Afghanistan and Sudan.
And by a two-to-one margin, people reject the suggestion that the timing of the attacks was an attempt to take the public's mind off of President Clinton's current scandal-related troubles.
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 U.S. Military Strikes |
| 70% |
Among those interviewed after the air strikes, 70 percent approve, and only 16 percent disapprove. People who specifically said they had heard or read something about the strikes before they were polled by CBS News and The New York Times were even more supportive (77 percent of them approved).
Most Americans are not skeptical about the motivation behind the timing of these strikes. Fifty-five percent say they believe the timing is due more to military judgment about the right time to respond to the U.S. embassy bombings in Africa. Twenty-seven percent support what has been termed the Wag the Dog scenario that the timing was more an attempt to distract the public from President Clinton's troubles.
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| Timing Of Strikes Was More |
| 55% |
Almost half the public supports the notion that a policy of retaliation for every terrorist act aimed at Americans would reduce terrorism, rather than incite moe terrorist attacks. Forty-nine percent say they think retaliation would reduce terrorism. Thirty-four percent believe such a policy would only make things worse.
Public Separates Job From Personal Life
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| Clinton's Job Ratings |
| 65% |
Americans continue to distinguish between their assessments of Bill Clinton as president and their opinions of his moral behavior. Both in his overall job approval and on other "presidential" traits, Bill Clinton continues to get high marks from the public.
As this and other polls have found since the Lewinsky scandal began in January, the President's approval rating has remained in the mid-60's.
In this poll, approval of Clinton's handling of the economy is at 73 percent, his near-record high. And, approval of Bill Clinton's handling of foreign policy is 67 percent - the highest score of his presidency.
Other public evaluations of Bill Clinton The President are also positive. More than ever before, 63 percent describe Clinton as a strong leader. And people are even slightly more likely to believe they can trust Clinton's word as President than they were in polls during his 1996 re-election campaign. Now, 53 percent think he can be trusted and 39 percent say he cannot.
One of the most consistent, and revealing, attitudes during the many months of the Lewinsky investigation is the fact that most Americans place this whole scandal situation in the private sphere, not in the public one involving Clinton's job as president. Sixty-eight percent want to drop the Lewinsky investigation now.
The Public Questions Clinton's Morals
Faith in Bill Clinton's morals has continued to erode. Fifty-nine percent now say Clinton does NOT share the moral values most Americans try to live by, the highest percentage who have said this since the question was first asked in July 1992. And only 27 percent say he has more honesty and integrity than most people in public life.
Other Scandal Concerns
Public satisfaction with Clinton's Monday night ddress is not as strong as it was on Monday and Tuesday. Now, 50 percent say they're satisfied, down from 58 percent and 57 percent on Monday and Tuesday.
Forty-one percent now think the President needs to say more. And people are less likely than they were earlier in the week to say it's understandable that Clinton lied about the affair in January. Now, people are split 48 percent to 47 percent on this question, compared with 52 percent to 45 percent on Tuesday.
Americans are more bothered by the fact that the President lied to the public in January than about the fact that he had an affair with Monica Lewinsky. Sixty-two percent say they are at least somewhat bothered by the fact that Clinton lied (40 percent say they're bothered a lot). Forty-seven percent say they are at least somewhat bothered by the affair. Women are more bothered about the affair than men are, but the sexes are equally bothered by Clinton's lying.
In fact, Americans have consistently reported in polls conducted before the President's admission that Clinton lying is what bothered them most about the whole situation.
And many don't make a distinction about what the president lies about. Fifty-four percent say it is equally serious when the president lies to the public about sex or national policy issues. But for those who do make the distinction, by 39 percent to 2 percent, they say it is a more serious offense for a U.S. president to lie to the public about national policy issues than to lie about sex.
The Scandal's Long-Term Impact
Although most of the public seem content with the President's current job performance, there are concerns about the future. Sixty percent say the scandal will have a serious impact on President Clinton's administration in the next two years.
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 Scandal's Effect On Clinton Administration |
| 60% |
Half of the public now think it is probably true that Bill Clinton suborned perjury by encouraging Monica Lewinsky to lie under oath about their relationship. If this is true, 45 percent say he should resign or Congress shoulbegin impeachment proceedings. However, a majority (52 percent) thinks in that case Clinton should just apologize or the matter should be dropped.
In a question asked of half of the poll respondents, 56 percent say permanent damage has been done to the institution of the presidency, and Clinton is blamed more than the Independent Counsel's investigation for having inflicted that damage.
When the other half of the sample was asked two separate questions about who is to blame for damaging the institution of the presidency, equal numbers (45 percent) say the president himself and the investigation have done the damage.
This poll suggests little change in the public's assessment of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr. He is still mainly viewed as conducting a partisan investigation, and opinion of him is more than two to one unfavorable. Many continue to blame the President's political enemies for creating the current situation.
However, 49 percent now blame Bill Clinton himself for creating the situation in the first place. Blame for prolonging the situation is now placed evenly between Clinton and his political enemies, although on Tuesday Clinton had shared more of the blame for prolonging the situation as well.
Is The Attack Helping Clinton?
Even in interviews conducted the day before the air strikes, Americans continued to demonstrate support for the way Bill Clinton was handling his job as President and to reject calls for his resignation.
On some questions, opinion was clearly different after the air strikes were announced. The perception of Clinton as a strong leader was slightly higher than it had been the day before. On Wednesday, the public narrowly trusted Bill Clinton to keep his word as president (48 percent to 44 percent). On Thursday, that margin changed to 56 percent who said he could be trusted to keep his word, and 36 percent who said he could not.
There are other questions where clear differences emerge between the two days of interviewing.
- The President's overall favorable-unfavorable rating: Before the air strikes were announced, nearly as many people expressed unfavorable as favorable views of Clinton, something that had not happened since the first day of the Lewinsky scandal. On Thursday, the public opinion of Bill Clinton was clearly favorable, making the overall percentages not too different from what this poll has shown for several months.
- Assessments about whether Clinton himself has caused long-term damage to the institution of the presidency: People were more likely to blame Clinton for causing this damage the day before the air strikes.
- What should happen next: Support for impeachment or resignation, while never high, decreased over the two days of interviewing.
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Mrs. Clinton continues to receive high favorable ratings. 50 percnt of the public has a favorable view of her, while 25 percent are unfavorable. As before, women are more favorable about the first lady than men are.
Clearly one reason for the positive assessment is public support for Hillary Clinton's defense of her husband. Seventy-three percent, men and women, approve of the way she has defended Bill Clinton in recent months. Only 18 percent disapprove.
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| Hillary Clinton's Public Defense Of Her Husband |
| 73% |
Those who approve say they do so mainly because she is "standing by her husband" or "trying to keep her marriage together." Those who disapprove mainly say they don't believe she was telling the truth when she defended Clinton, that she knew about the affair all along.
In fact, even a majority of those who approve of Mrs. Clinton's public response to the scandal, question the first lady's credibility. Sixty-six percent of the public overall do not believe the claims that Hillary Clinton only found out about the exact nature of her husband's relationship with Monica Lewinsky before last week.
The Paula Jones Case
One result of the Monica Lewinsky investigation and the President's admission of an "inappropriate" relationship with her is that Americans now seem more willing to accept Paula Jones's claims that Bill Clinton sexually harassed her. Fifty-four percent say Jones's claims are probably true, thirty-eight percent say they are probably not true. In previous polls conducted since the lawsuit was thrown out, there was a more even split as to whether or not people supported Jones' claims.
Opinion about Monica Lewinsky continues to be negative. Only 5 percent of those interviewed say they have a favorable opinion of her. Fifty-four percent are unfavorable.
This poll was conducted among a nationwide random sample of 944 adults interviewed by telephone August 19-20, 1998. 439 respondents were interviewed AFTER the air strikes. The error due to sampling could be plus or minus three points for results based on the entire sample, and plus or minus five points for result based on the post-strike sample.
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