Clinton Approval Rating 60%, Congress at 36%, Poll Finds

Six in 10 Americans approve of President Clinton’s job performance, unchanged since the election and a much more positive assessment than the public gives Congress, according to a poll released Monday.

The CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll found Congress with a 36% job approval, compared with Clinton’s 60%. Despite all the ethical questions that have been raised about Clinton’s fund-raising, twice as many people view him favorably as unfavorably, the poll said.

A majority had more confidence in Clinton than the Republicans in Congress to handle welfare, but the two sides were rated about even on taxes, and Clinton had only a slight advantage over his GOP foes on the economy and foreign affairs.

In general, 48% wanted Clinton to have more influence over the nation’s direction and 39% wanted the Republicans to take the lead. Nine percent suggested the two sides share influence equally; the rest were undecided.

Gallup said it interviewed 1,056 adults by phone Friday through Sunday. Results have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.