Dole Tops Clinton In ‘Nasty’ Poll

Capping a week in which Bob Dole stepped up his attacks on President Clinton’s ethics, a poll finds that Americans judge Clinton to have the better personal character to be president by a 48 percent to 36 percent margin.

The Newsweek survey, released Saturday, also found that 59 percent of registered voters thought Dole was “more negative or nasty” than Clinton in what he says about his opponent, while 11 percent thought Clinton was more negative and 13 percent thought the two candidates were equally negative.

On the character question, 48 percent of those surveyed said Clinton had the better personal character to be president, compared to 36 percent for Dole and 10 percent who said it made no difference.

The survey was taken Thursday and Friday, at the end of a week in which Dole sharply escalated his attacks on Clinton’s integrity and ethics.

Overall, 52 percent of those surveyed favored Clinton for president, 29 percent backed Dole and 8 percent supported Reform Party nominee Ross Perot.

The survey of 755 registered voters had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

A CNN-USA Today-Gallup tracking poll released Saturday also put the national polling gap at 23 points, with Clinton favored by 55 percent, Dole by 32 percent and Perot by 8 percent.

The survey of 754 likely voters was conducted Thursday and Friday and had a 4-point margin of error.