Pluses, Minuses for Clinton--From Some Familiar Places : Survey: Times’ poll shows warm and not so warm reactions to President’s plan from Americans gathered around TV sets, radios.

Through the long weeks of talk about the new President, his promises and pratfalls, this--finally--was the moment they had been waiting for.

When President Clinton outlined his economic plan before a joint session of Congress Wednesday night, his more important audience gathered around television sets and radios in America’s kitchens, family rooms and cafes. Their initial reactions showed both why the President faces no easy task in selling his call for sacrifice and why he also may find unexpected support for his efforts.

The reactions were culled from Americans who in the past have offered their opinions to the Los Angeles Times poll and who consented to share their views on the President’s speech.

Among them was Samuel Moncrieffe, 48, a Baton Rouge, La., accountant who foresaw immediate trouble ahead for Clinton from congressional Republicans. But Moncrieffe, a veteran of the Vietnam War who is a state employee, said that he found Clinton’s plan balanced and fair--so much so that he is willing to pay more taxes.

“I think he’ll get most of his ideas through because the American people will be behind him,” Moncrieffe said. “We want change and I think most of us are willing to sacrifice now where we weren’t before--even if it means higher taxes--because it’s really coming home that things can’t stay the way they are.”

Theresa Maze, a 31-year-old computer programmer from Whitman, Mass., said that she could accept Clinton’s plan to raise taxes on the middle class--she never thought he would do otherwise.

“My taxes might go up but that’s all right,” said Maze, the mother of one. “My tax has always gone up and the taxes for the rich haven’t. But now they will, and we’re going to see it.”

And she conceded that she is fascinated by Clinton. “Anything this guy does interests me. I think there’s finally now hope in our political system.”

But others were less enthusiastic.

Debra Cobb, a 37-year-old sales representative for R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. in Knoxville, Tenn., rushed home from a birthday dinner at a local restaurant to watch the speech. Afterward, she wondered whether it had been worth the trouble.

Cobb was openly dubious about Clinton’s claim that his public investment program would create 9 million jobs.

“I don’t see it creating jobs and I don’t see it reviving the economy,” she said, adding that she believes the program leans too heavily on corporate taxes.

But she said that she does believe Clinton’s claim that his program would bring the deficit down and agrees with the President that repairing the imbalance between federal spending and revenue is crucial.

She also accepted Clinton’s claim that he had fairly distributed the pain in his program. “I think he has made his best effort to do that,” she said.

Avis Nicholson, a 79-year-old retired teacher in Madison, Minn., left the Republican Party last year to vote for Clinton and now seems happy to have done so.

If her views are any indication, Clinton was right Wednesday when he told Congress that the issue of campaign reform resonated with average Americans.

“Restructuring campaign finance, that’s a good thing,” she said, as is stricter control on lobbying activities. “People will like that.”

She said that she is ready to pay more taxes but worries about the complexities of the energy tax, which Clinton said would cost a family earning $40,000 a year another $17 a month. “Last night was the coldest night we had,” she said. “I wonder how (the tax) will affect my heating bill.”

But she did not doubt Clinton’s assertion that the country needs an energy tax, as well as wholesale reform of the health care system.

Donny Butler, a 54-year-old operations manager for a New Orleans contractor, said that he was impressed by Clinton’s remarks but thinks that he had heard them once before.

“I heard it some time ago--with Jimmy Carter, I believe,” said Butler, who voted for George Bush. “It’s back to the old tax and spend--where does it stop?”

Butler said that he doubts that Clinton actually is the “different kind of Democrat” he has claimed to be and said that he believes Clinton has jettisoned a series of campaign promises.

“He’s gone back on a lot of campaign promises, which a lot of politicians do,” Butler said. “But he beat an incumbent President with promises, so a lot of people are looking for him to act right now.”

Keith Gilkenson, a 63-year-old truck driver from East Liverpool, Ohio, said that he judged Clinton’s program by what he views as the President’s abandoned pledge not to raise taxes on the middle class.

“He’s the same as the President we had before,” Gilkenson said. “He promised no new taxes during the campaign; within a month, we have them. That’s what Bush did.”

Still, Gilkenson gave Clinton high marks for his speech. And he gave Clinton a good grade for his health care reform plans and the incentives he has provided for business.

“Health care is needed and business incentives are needed,” he said.

But Douglas Ray, a 49-year-old laid-off plant manager from Troy, Ohio, scoffed at Clinton’s claim that he was forced to propose more taxes because the deficit was higher than he had been led to believe.

Times researchers D’Jamila Salem in Los Angeles, Lianne Hart in Houston, Tracy Shryer in Chicago, Doug Conner in Seattle, Anna M. Virtue in Miami, Ann Rovin in Denver and Edith Stanley in Atlanta contributed to this story.