Poll Finds 66% Dissatisfied With Presidential Contenders : Politics: Bush is found to have a narrow 50%-43% lead over both Clinton and Brown. Survey shows character issue has severely hurt Arkansas governor.

A new nationwide poll shows that 66% of the people are dissatisfied with all of the presidential candidates and that character attacks have seriously damaged Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, the Democratic front-runner.

The poll, the latest in a series by the Times Mirror Center for the People and the Press, gives President Bush a lead of only 50% to 43% over both Clinton and the governor’s opponent in the Democratic race, former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. But the survey indicated that Bush could increase his margin over Clinton by as much as eight points by attacking his character.

Leaving no doubt the Bush campaign is planning to do that, campaign Chairman Robert S. Teeter said he is operating on the assumption that Clinton will be Bush’s opponent and character will be the dominant issue.

Although still heavily favored to win the nomination, Clinton is a long way from locking it up. Brown’s recent victories in the Connecticut primary and the Vermont caucuses have given his campaign new momentum heading into Tuesday’s crucial New York primary.

Teeter, interviewed at a breakfast session, said character looms as the biggest issue because voters are looking for the personal qualities and values of “the person they want to sit in the Oval Office and make decisions for them.”

Andrew Kohut, director of the survey, said that the outcome “does represent the potential the Republican Party has in a campaign situation to further worsen the public image of Bill Clinton.”

Although leading Democrats have said that the issue could cut both ways in the general election, Teeter declared it will not work against the President because he has satisfactorily answered voters’ questions about his personal values during eight years as vice president and more than three years in the Oval Office.

The poll also found a strong anti-Washington mood: 61% of Republicans, 65% of Democrats and 72% of independents expressed dissatisfaction with the presidential candidates. Many said they were angry and ready to oust members of Congress who wrote bad checks at the House bank.

People viewed the bad-check writing as a bipartisan scandal, with 76% saying both parties are equally to blame. At least half said they would vote against a member of Congress who has written a hundred bad checks, or more.

The survey was based on telephone interviews among 1,668 adults, 18 years of age or older, during March 26-29. The margin of error on general polling questions was plus or minus 3 percentage points. In two narrower samplings of people’s election preferences when negative issues were attributed to both Bush and Clinton, the margin of error increased to plus or minus 5 percentage points.

Times Mirror Co. is the owner of the Los Angeles Times and other newspaper, broadcasting and publishing enterprises.

In one sampling, before being asked about their election preferences, respondents were questioned about Bush’s handling of the economy, his failure to oust Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and his breaking of his “no new taxes” pledge. Those questions had little or no impact on the respondents’ election preferences. Bush’s 50-43 edge over Clinton changed to only 48 to 45, within the margin of error.

But in a second independent sampling, questions about Clinton’s character--including allegations about marital affairs, conflicts of interest and his draft status during the Vietnam War--raised Bush’s lead to 54% to 39% over Clinton.

The survey showed that the character issue probably would hurt Clinton’s prospects in the general election most among his strongest constituencies--women, less-educated voters, older people and Southerners.

An information question posed by the poll also showed that Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot is becoming known as a potential presidential candidate. Asked to name the “prominent businessman considering running for President as a third-party candidate,” 31% named Perot.

However, Perot’s favorable-unfavorable rating among the 50% of the sample who voiced an opinion were mixed--29% to 21%.

Discontent with Bush’s job performance, especially his handling of the economy, together with unease about his opponents, leaves the candidates facing a volatile electorate, according to the poll. Only 19% of those who favor Bush support him strongly, while only 9% who prefer Clinton back him strongly.

All three presidential candidates are saddled with high unfavorable ratings: Bush, 36%; Clinton, 40%; and Brown, 41%.

Bush’s unfavorable rating--extraordinarily high for a President--is rooted in people’s belief, by 76% to 21%, that he still is not doing enough to improve the economy. Respondents gave him the same rating on the economy in a similar poll in January.

No recent President seeking reelection has had such a high unfavorable rating. Gallup polls showed that in July, 1980, President Gerald R. Ford’s unfavorable rating was 22%; in June, 1980, President Jimmy Carter’s was 27%; and in April, 1984, President Ronald Reagan’s was 25%.

While still vice president in May, 1988, Bush also had a high unfavorable rating--42%. But he overcame it after winning the Republican nomination and went on to a lopsided victory over Democratic nominee Michael S. Dukakis.

While Brown’s unfavorable ratings have remained in the 40% range ever since his 1980 presidential campaign, negative opinions of Clinton have increased steadily since early January when his favorable to unfavorable ratio was 37% to 15%. In late February, the ratio was 59% to 31% and in the latest survey, 53% to 40%.

Over the last month, as he has been hit by a barrage of negative stories and attacks on his character, Clinton’s image has suffered among people from all walks of life. The biggest decline has been among the older, better educated and more affluent--people who closely follow the news.

Eighty-six percent of those polled had heard of allegations against him. They were about evenly divided on whether he has been honest and truthful in handling questions about marital infidelity and whether he tried to avoid the draft during the Vietnam War.

Despite periodic negative coverage of the Clinton candidacy, 63% of those questioned rated news coverage of the campaign as good or excellent. Only 15% saw the press as biased against a particular candidate and 11% volunteered that the press was biased against Clinton.