Poll Shows a Dip in Support for Congress, GOP House Candidates

Public support for Congress and Republican congressional candidates has dipped in the wake of last week’s partisan vote in the House to begin a formal impeachment investigation of President Clinton, according to a Washington Post survey.

The proportion of likely voters who say they intend to vote for the Democratic House candidate increased from 47% to 51% in the last two weeks, the poll found. GOP support fell from 47% to 42%.

Also, 45% of respondents say they approve of the job Congress is doing, down from 52% in late September. Among those certain to vote, congressional approval fell from 51% to 43% since September.

These declines are modest and perhaps temporary. But the results suggest that the political climate may be a bit chillier now for many congressional incumbents and Republican House candidates.

The survey found that Clinton is more popular now than he was before Thursday’s House vote. Now 67% say they approve of the job that Clinton is doing, up from 63% in a Post-ABC News survey conducted in late September.

A total of 802 randomly selected adults were interviewed Thursday through Saturday. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.