Poll Studies Impact of Probe by Congress of Wright Ethics

Many Americans are unfamiliar with the ethics charges against House Speaker Jim Wright, but majorities say he should resign as Speaker if he violated the rules of Congress, two national polls have found.

A fifth of the respondents in an ABC News poll said Wright should quit as Speaker immediately, and an additional 59% said he should resign his leadership position if the charges against him were found to be true.

In an NBC News-Wall Street Journal survey, 75% said Wright should quit as Speaker if the House found that he broke its rules. That poll did not ask if Wright should resign immediately.

The ABC poll found Wright’s popularity declining. In an April 3 poll, 53% approved of his performance as Speaker. In the poll done Wednesday, two days after the ethics committee charged Wright, 29% approved.

About half those who no longer approved of Wright said they disapproved of him. The other half were undecided.

In the NBC-Journal poll, about one-quarter of the respondents had a favorable opinion of Wright and about a quarter had an unfavorable opinion. The rest, nearly half, had no opinion of him.

Both polls found another indication that the issue has not gripped public attention: Nearly half in the NBC-Journal poll and 40% in the ABC poll said they had not heard or read anything about the Wright affair.

NBC and the Journal polled 1,447 adults Sunday through Tuesday, and their poll had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points. ABC polled 540 adults Wednesday night; its survey had a five-point margin of error.