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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Clinton Bottoms Out In Idaho Poll

Coyyright 1996, The Idaho Spokesman-Review

Idaho voters have questions about President Clinton’s moral character and a poor opinion of the job he’s doing.

Clinton may be leading presumptive Republican nominee Bob Dole elsewhere in the nation, but in Idaho, if the election were held right now, the incumbent president would lose Idaho’s four Electoral College votes.

Those are the results of a scientific survey commissioned by The Idaho Spokesman-Review, KHQ-TV and KTVB in Boise.

Dole beats Clinton by an overwhelming margin, even if independent Ross Perot were to enter the race, according to the poll conducted by Mason Dixon Political/Media Research Inc.

Fewer than one voter in three said they thought Clinton was doing an excellent or good job as president. Half of the voters said they had an unfavorable opinion of him.

Nearly one voter in four said the most important issue in deciding their vote for president was moral character.

“The bottom line is, they don’t like Clinton,” said Del Ali, analyst for the polling firm.

Clinton’s job approval ratings in Idaho are the lowest of the 32 states in which the firm has conducted surveys in the past five months.

The president has slightly better support in the state’s 1st Congressional District. There he trails Dole by only 10 percentage points - which still is considered a landslide in election returns.

While Dole is running some 20 percentage points ahead of Clinton statewide, Ali cautioned that his supporters should not take that as a signal the retiring Senate majority leader has captured the hearts and minds of Idaho voters.

Fewer than half of the voters surveyed said they had a favorable opinion of Dole. In a state that has strong Republican leanings, Dole might be expected to have more than two-thirds of voters saying they had a favorable opinion of him.

“What they seem to be saying is, He’s not Bill Clinton,” Ali said.

Independent Perot, who has not announced a candidacy but is concentrating on forming a third political party, has fallen dramatically from his 1992 electoral showing.

The Texas billionaire received about 27 percent of the vote in 1992. In the survey, he was the choice of 7 percent of the voters polled.

“We’re seeing that everywhere in the country,” Ali said. “1992 was before his NAFTA debate with Al Gore and a lot of other things.”

Only 13 percent of the voters surveyed said they had a favorable opinion of Perot while 52 percent - four times as many - had an unfavorable opinion.

“Ol’ Ross has lost a lot,” mused Ron McMurray of Lewiston, state chairman of the Republican Party.

McMurray called the results for Dole “great” and believes the gap will grow as the campaign progresses.

“The real campaign has just begun … he’s just established a theme, a full-blown message,” he said. “President Clinton has great charisma, but if you’re going to compare charisma with character, character is going to win.”

Ryan Hall, a spokesman for the state Democratic Party, called the results “discouraging but not unexpected.” He expects the margin to shrink in the coming months, just as Dole’s gap should shrink nationwide.

“It has been an uphill battle for a Democratic presidential candidate in Idaho for the last 30 years,” Hall said.

The Clinton campaign plans to focus on the economy and foreign policy accomplishments, he said. The voters’ questions about character don’t surprise him because Republicans have focused on Whitewater and other alleged scandals.

“They can’t attack President Clinton for his record, so they have to attack with endless rumors and halftruths,” Hall said. “It takes away from what people should be talking about.”

Pocket-book issues trailed questions about the candidate’s moral character in the survey. The economy and jobs were mentioned by 18 percent of those surveyed, taxes and government spending by 16 percent, and a balanced budget by 11 percent.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 graphics: 1. Clinton has to play catch-up 2. Presidential timber?