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

WASHINGTON — 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.