43% Surveyed Say Press Is Unfair to Clinton : Politics: The media also has been too quick to judge, 45% say. But a large share of the public still thinks President’s sagging popularity is his own fault.

A significant number of Americans believe that the press is judging President Clinton both too quickly and unfairly, according to a new survey released today.

But a large share of the public still thinks that Clinton’s sagging popularity is his own fault, not the fault of the press, according to the survey by the Times Mirror Center for People and the Press.

A notable 43% of those polled said that they thought news organizations were criticizing the Clinton Administration unfairly, according to the survey, while 51% said that they thought the media were being fair.

By comparison, the percentage of those who believe the press is being fair is far lower than during either the George Bush or Ronald Reagan administrations, even at low points in their approval ratings. In January, 1992, for instance, as Bush’s approval ratings sank in the face of a poor economy and attacks from political opponents, 77% of Americans said that they thought press criticism of Bush was fair. Similarly, 67% considered the press fair to Reagan in 1986 when his Administration was reeling from nonstop news coverage of the Iran-Contra scandal.

In the same vein, 45% of those participating in the latest poll thought that the press has “come to a judgment about the Clinton Administration’s performance too quickly,” compared with previous administrations. The survey found that 44% said they believe the press is judging Clinton about as quickly as it has past presidents.

Despite a greater willingness to criticize the press as being too judgmental, the public does not attribute Clinton’s problems to the press. When asked why Clinton’s job performance ratings are low, 44% of those polled said that they think the reason is that Clinton has not done a very good job. Thirty-one percent blamed an uncooperative Congress. Only 20% attributed Clinton’s problems to the press.

Most Americans, 52%, do not believe that press criticism will make Clinton’s job harder, while 40% think it will, the poll said.

The survey also suggested that much of the press criticism of Clinton has attracted little public concern. Only 13% of those surveyed said that they had paid very close attention to the controversy over the White House travel office and only 18% reported paying very close attention to the flap over the President’s $200 haircut. Just 21% said they had paid very close attention to the withdrawal of University of Pennsylvania law professor C. Lani Guinier’s nomination as an assistant attorney general.

Similarly, only 12% said that they have been closely following news of the debate in Congress over Clinton’s budget, a dramatic decrease in interest in the subject over the course of his presidency. Even a month earlier, twice as many Americans, 27%, said that they were paying very close attention to Republican opposition to the economic stimulus package.

Only a minority of Americans, 28%, have complaints about the coverage of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. A majority of 51% said that the press has dealt with Mrs. Clinton appropriately. Of that quarter of the population who think the press has been too critical of the First Lady, 69% said they believe it is because the press does not like her unusual involvement in policy decisions. Only 6% said they think it is because the press dislikes her personally.

And most Americans, 61%, believe that press scrutiny of Ross Perot has been appropriate, according to the poll. Only 11% think the press has been too critical of Perot. Nearly a quarter of the population, 22%, think the press has not been critical enough.

The survey of 1,006 adults conducted June 11-15 has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points, and the results could be biased as well by the wording of the questions.

Times Mirror Center for People and the Press is run by Times Mirror Co., the Los Angeles-based communications firm that owns The Times as well as several other newspapers, cable and electronic publishing and information companies.