Pollster: Jones Ruling Won’t Hurt Clinton

White House pollster Mark Penn on Thursday sought to discount any political fallout from the Supreme Court’s ruling this week allowing the Paula Jones sexual harassment case against President Clinton to proceed.

Penn said Clinton’s high job approval ratings “are holding” and will not “dip at all” as a result of the court’s action Tuesday rejecting Clinton’s contention that the Constitution shields a sitting president from lawsuits stemming from acts that allegedly occurred before he took office.

Penn’s remarks were the first extended public comments on the case by a senior political adviser to the president since the ruling.