Dole Still Lagging In Poll Despite Resignation Plan

Last week, Bob Dole surprised Americans by announcing he would quit the U.S. Senate to devote all his time to his presidential campaign.

This week, Americans appear to have surprises of their own for the Kansas Republican. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll suggests that Dole’s decision to leave the Senate has done nothing to increase his popularity with voters or alter the public’s impression of him as a Washington insider.

Overall, the poll contained virtually no bad news for President Clinton and Democrats while bearing scant good news for Dole and Republicans in Congress.

The percentage of Americans who trust the Democratic Party more than the GOP to handle the country’s biggest problems stood at a threeyear high in the Post-ABC polling, and a majority of those interviewed said Republicans don’t deserve to retain control of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

The survey found that Clinton leads Dole, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, by 57 percent to 35 percent among registered voters - unchanged from the results of a Washington Post survey completed just days before Dole announced his plans to leave the Senate.

The survey also found that the “character” issue - perceived by many Republicans and Democrats alike to be Clinton’s political Achilles’ heel - currently seems to pose little threat to the president. Seventy-seven percent of those interviewed said they value a candidate “who understands the problems of people like you” over one “who has high personal character.”

This is doubly troublesome for Dole and the Republicans. In recent surveys by Post-ABC and other news organizations, Clinton generally is viewed by voters as more empathetic than Dole, while the Republican is seen by most voters as the candidate with higher moral standards and character.

The latest survey found that Clinton’s overall job approval rating stood at 58 percent, his best showing in more than two years. And for the first time in a Post-ABC poll, a majority of Americans say Clinton deserves re-election.