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Poll: Clinton Is Wife's Campaign Plus

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By DAN BALZ and JON COHEN, The Washington Post

Published: October 4, 2007

WASHINGTON - Former President Clinton has emerged as a clear asset in his wife's campaign for the White House, with Americans offering high ratings to his eight years in office and a solid majority saying they would be comfortable with him as first spouse, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

But Americans said they would not regard the election of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., as a resumption of her husband's presidency. Instead, two-thirds said she would take her presidency in a different direction, and half of all Americans said they thought that would be good. About half of those who said it would be a resumption described it as positive.

The former president is very much at the center of his wife's campaign - helping to raise money, muscling endorsements, providing strategic and policy advice, and joining her on the trail. But after the political and personal turbulence in his two terms in the White House, there have been questions about whether the nation is eager for what could be seen as a third Clinton term.

At this point, the former president is seen in favorable terms. Two-thirds of Americans said they approve of the job he did while he was in office - virtually the reverse of President Bush's current 33 percent approval rating. Clinton remains overwhelmingly popular among Democrats, and 63 percent of independents and even a third of Republicans also gave him positive marks.

Many Republicans have said they are eager to run a general-election campaign against Hillary Clinton, describing her as a highly polarizing candidate who would unite the opposition. As of now, she appears no more polarizing than other leading Democratic candidates. Nor is there a potential GOP nominee who appears significantly less polarizing.

Forty-one percent of those surveyed said they definitely would not vote for Clinton in the general election if she were the Democratic nominee, one of the lowest 'reject rates' among leading candidates in the two major parties. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has the lowest definite opposition, at 39 percent.

Americans view the top four GOP candidates in equally or more negative terms. Forty-four percent said they definitely would not vote for former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani; 45 percent said the same of Sen. John McCain of Arizona. More than half said they definitely would not vote for former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee (54 percent) or former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (57 percent).

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