March 1, 1999
Web posted at: 5:00 p.m. EST (2200 GMT)

WASHINGTON (March 1) -- About a third of all Americans believe that Juanita Broaddrick's allegation that Bill Clinton raped her in 1978 is definitely true or probably true, and two-thirds of the public thinks that the media should stop pursuing the story, a new CNN/USA Today/ Gallup Poll shows.

Fourteen percent, according to the survey, are convinced that Broaddrick's charge that Clinton raped her is definitely not true, while another 40 percent say that the charge is probably not true.

Most Americans do not believe that Broaddrick has gone public with her allegations to harm Clinton for political reasons. How has the charge affected the public's view of Clinton? Only 32 percent have a positive opinion of him as a person, but that is down only 3 points (within the margin of sampling error) from two weeks ago.

So NBC's airing of the Broaddrick interview last week did not produce a statistically significant change in the public's view of Clinton. His approval rating, now at 66 percent, has also not suffered a significant decline in the wake of the Broaddrick charges, the poll indicated.

The survey of 1,013 adult Americans was conducted February 26-28, and has a margin of sampling error of +/- 3 percentage points.

Here are the questions and results:

Do you think Juanita Broaddrick's allegation that Bill Clinton raped her in 1978 is definitely true, probably true, probably not true, or definitely not true?

Thinking about Juanita Broaddrick's allegation against President Clinton, which of the following statements do you agree with more: This is an important matter that the press should continue to cover and investigate, or this matter is no big deal and the press should stop pursuing this story.

Why do you think Juanita Broaddrick has gone public with her allegations against Bill Clinton -- mostly to harm Clinton for political reasons, or mostly to get her story out for personal reasons?

Thinking about Bill Clinton as a person, do you have a positive or negative opinion of him?

Do you approve or disapprove of the way Bill Clinton is handling his job as president?

Monday, March 1, 1999

• Small children, big political donations
• Justice opposes Y2K lawsuit legislation
• Senate battle brewing over education bill
• California GOP grapples with its problems
• Senators predict end to Independent Counsel Act
• Poll: Most believe media should lay off Broaddrick allegation
• Panel says IRS can't balance books
• Few first ladies have contemplated running for office
• Rep. Kasich defends friendship with Democrat
• Report: Lewinsky links herself with Diana
• Clintons end vacation a day early
• New Jersey foes may clash in Senate race
• Once considered a joke, Gov. Moonbeam's star rises again
• Capital reflects American society
• GOP senator urges stand on abortion
• Mayoral candidate's phony Web site closed

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