NEW YORK, Jan 25: US President Clinton's public approval ratings are taking a beating in the wake of charges that he had an affair with a young aide and urged her to lie about it under oath.Nearly half of Americans say they would favour US President Bill Clinton's impeachment and ouster if allegations that he told a former intern to lie under oath are true, a new Newsweek poll says.
Clinton faces allegations that he had an affair with Monica Lewinsky, a 24-year-old former White House intern, lied under oath about the relationship and urged her to lie about it in a sworn statement. The survey of 751 adults conducted on January 22 and 23 says Americans would support the wrenching political step by a 49 to 43 percent margin.
The poll says 57 percent of Americans believe that telling someone to lie about a sexual relationship is on the same scale as the ``high crimes and misdemeanours'' that led Richard Nixon to resign the presidency in disgrace in 1974.
It also says Clinton's approval rating has fallen
to 54 percent from a high of 61 percent last Sunday. Some 37 percent of Americans say Clinton is doing a bad job, up from 30 percent a week ago. And by a margin of 52 to 40 percent, US residents now say Clinton lacks the honesty and integrity expected in a national leader.
A separate ABC News poll said on Saturday that for the first time in Clinton's presidency, less than half of the public, some 49 percent, say they believe the president has the kind of honesty and integrity a national leader needs. The ABC poll of 505 adults on Friday also said 67 percent believe he should resign if he perjured himself.
A poll conducted on Thursday by CNN-Time said Clinton's favorable rating has dropped by 10 percentage points to 50 percent since last week, and that 51 percent now believe he does not have the proper moral character to be the nation's leader.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
