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Poll: Clinton, GOP Deserve Credit For BudgetIf there's a balanced budget deal, people say they should share the creditBy Keating Holland/CNN WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, July 28) -- If the balanced budget talks are successful, President Bill Clinton and GOP leaders in Congress will share the credit equally, according to a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll. But if the budget negotiations fall through, a majority of Americans would blame the Republicans. If a bill is passed into law which would balance the budget by the year 2002, 43 percent of all Americans say that Clinton should get more credit for that than the GOP, while 43 percent say the GOP should get more credit than Clinton. But if no balanced budget bill becomes law, 50 percent say that the GOP would be more responsible for that happening than Clinton, while just 36 percent would blame Clinton more than the GOP. By a 49-38 percent margin, the public says that they prefer Clinton's approach to the federal budget more than the Republicans'. The poll numbers are based on interviews with 1,014 Americans conducted July 25-27. The survey has a margin of sampling error of +/- 3 percentage points for questions asked of the entire sample, and 3.5 percentage points for questions asked of registered voters. Here are the numbers:
The 1998 Mid-Term ElectionsThe survey also included questions on next year's congressional elections. Looking ahead to the 1998 midterm elections, how do the Democrats and Republicans stand? If that election were held today, 48 percent of registered voters would choose the Democratic candidate for Congress in their district, while 43 percent would vote for the GOP candidate. The Republicans have a little more strength among those who regularly vote, but the Democrats still come out ahead. Would the country be better off if the Democrats regained control of Congress? Thirty-nine percent of registered voters say yes, while 37 percent say the country would be better off if the GOP controlled Congress. In the most recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup survey, in late June, the Democrats had a more comfortable 40-34 percent lead on that question. That indicates that the attempted coup against Speaker Newt Gingrich may not have hurt his party as a whole. Here are the numbers:
Coup Attempt Doesn't Affect Gingrich's Already Low NumbersThe coup also has not hurt Gingrich himself, but only because opinion of the Georgia Republican was already very low. Only a quarter of the public has a favorable view of Gingrich, virtually unchanged from the previous poll in late June. And 63 percent of the public would like to see the GOP replace Gingrich as speaker. (Among Republican members of the general public, 47 percent would like to see Gingrich remain as speaker and 46 percent would like to see him replaced.) If Gingrich is ousted, that might help his party's chances at the ballot box next November, but the results are inconclusive because the differences are well within the survey's margin of error. As noted above, Democrats have a 48-43 percent lead among registered voters if the mid-term elections were held today. But if Gingrich were not speaker of the House, the Democrats' lead among registered voters would shrink to 46-45 percent.
The Senate HearingsOnly 39 percent of all Americans believe that the Senate committe investigating campaign fund-raising in the 1996 election has produced new information on that subject, and a majority think it is unlikely that the committee will do so in the future. Nearly two-thirds of the country thinks the Democratic party committed unethical acts in its fund-raising last year; 55 percent say the same about the GOP. Here are the numbers:
Public Likes Alan GreenspanAs his 10th anniversary as Federal Reserve chairman approaches, Alan Greenspan enjoys high ratings among the general public. Fifty-two percent of all Americans have a favorable view of Greenspan; only 11 percent have an unfavorable view. But less than a third of the public is familiar with Greenspan, a remarkably low number for someone in his position.
Other Polls:
President Clinton Is America's Most Admired Man (12/30/97) |
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