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Public Continues To Back Clinton

President Clinton's approval rating continues to rise even though a majority of Americans believe Mr. Clinton engaged in reckless sexual behavior in the White House, a CBS News poll has found.

Of 529 adults surveyed nationwide Monday night, 52 percent say they believe Mr. Clinton has engaged in reckless sexual conduct while president, but 67 percent approve of the way he is handling his job as president. These were the same individuals who were surveyed in early March and who gave the president a 64 percent job-approval rating.


The public has a divided view about who is telling the truth - President Clinton or former White House volunteer Kathleen Willey - about alleged sexual advances the president made to the volunteer. Forty-four percent believe Clinton; 48 percent believe Willey. Men (55 percent) are more likely to believe Willey; women (52 percent) are more likely to believe the president.

Willey has somewhat more credibility with the public than Paula Jones, who is suing the President for sexual harassment. Twenty percent believe Willey is telling the entire truth, compared with 13 percent who say this about Jones.

Despite this, only 24 percent say these sexual issues are of great importance to the country, while twice as many say it is of little or no importance.

And 67 percent say they can wait until the investigation is complete before Mr. Clinton needs to say anything more about it.

The sampling error on the poll is plus or minus four percentage points.

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