Americans Overwhelmingly Criticize Pardons, But Few Think Clinton "Did Something Illegal"

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- According to the latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll -- conducted March 9-11 -- the American public has an overwhelmingly critical view of the pardons Bill Clinton gave just prior to leaving the presidency. As federal prosecutors in New York and congressional committees in Washington continue to probe the details of the pardons, only about one in five Americans (18%) think Clinton did something illegal. However, an additional 57% think he did something unethical, but not illegal. Combined, 75% of Americans have a negative view of the pardons, which matches the 75% in a March 5-7 Gallup poll who disapprove of the most controversial pardon, that of fugitive financier Marc Rich. Only 11% of the public approve of the Rich pardon, down from 20% last month.

The fifty-seven percent of Americans who say Clinton did something unethical can be divided into two camps, the 35% who say he did somethingveryunethical and the 22% who say his actions were onlyslightlyunethical. Just 22% of the public think he did nothing seriously wrong. Thus, a majority of the public (53%) rate his actions in rather seriously negative terms (as either illegal or very unethical), while fewer (44%) rate them less seriously by characterizing them as slightly unethical or not wrong at all.. As documented in previous Gallup polls, Americans' evaluations of Bill Clinton have suffered considerably in recent months, with the latest favorability rating on him (from the March 5-7 poll) at 39%, down from 57% last December and 51% as recently as February 1-4.

Pardons Still an Important Issue to Public
At this point, it is unclear how far investigations into the pardons will go, but when asked in Gallup's March 5-7 survey about the status of congressional hearings into the Rich pardon, 49% of Americans felt the hearings should continue while 43% felt they should stop.

Even though the controversy over the pardons has died down somewhat in the news, the public still views this as an important issue. One-third of Americans currently rate the pardons as a "very important issue," with an additional 30% saying they are "somewhat important." Only about one-third of the public sees the pardons as a relatively unimportant issue, including 17% who say they are not at all important.

There is much variation on the perceived importance of the pardons according to age, as 46% of Americans aged 65 and over see the pardons as a very important issue, compared to just 31% of 30-49 year olds and 20% of 18-29 year olds. Additionally, one's partisanship is strongly related to one's perceived importance of the pardons, -- 47% of Republicans say they are very important compared to just 24% of Democrats. In fact, about half of Democrats (48%) in the poll say the pardons are not an important issue.

Those who view the pardons negatively are much more likely to feel the issue is important. Sixty-two percent of those who think Clinton did something illegal say the issue is very important (an additional 28% say it is somewhat important, meaning 90% of those who think the actions were illegal think they are important). Thirty-two percent of those who think Clinton did something unethical but not illegal view the issue as "very important." Just 18% of those who do not think Clinton did anything wrong say the issue is "very important."

Public Rates Pardons Similarly to Whitewater Controversy
The pardon controversies follow others that plagued the Clinton administration, including Whitewater, fundraising in the 1996 election, and allegations that the administration shared missile technology with China in exchange for large campaign donations. Public reaction to the controversies can be compared to whether in each case Americans believe Clinton did something illegal, unethical or nothing wrong, as measured in previous Gallup polls.

Controversy (Date of Poll)	Illegal	Unethical	Nothing Wrong	No Opinion
Whitewater (April 17-19, 1998)	24%	47	24	5
Pardons (Mar 9-11, 2001)	18%	57	22	3
Fundraising (Feb 13-15, 1998)	19%	41	33	7
China Missiles (June 5-7, 1998)	15%	41	33	12

More people viewed Clinton's actions in Whitewater as "illegal" near the end of that controversy than did so for the other controversies. However, the greatest number -- 75% -- rate the pardons as being either "illegal or unethical," topping Whitewater (71%) by a small margin and the two other controversies by much larger margins.

Survey Methods

The results below are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,015 adults, 18 years and older, conducted March 9-11, 2001. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

Now I have a few questions about the pardons that Bill Clinton granted in his final days as president.

How important an issue do you think these pardons are to the nation -- very important, somewhat important, not too important, or not important at all?

 

	Very important	Somewhat important	Not too important	Not important at all	No opinion
2001 Mar 9-11	33%	30	17	17	3

Which of the following statements best describes your view of Bill Clinton's actions relating to the pardons -- Bill Clinton did something illegal, he did something unethical, but not illegal, or he did not do anything seriously wrong, or are you unsure?

From what you have heard or read, which way do you lean? Do you think Bill Clintonprobablydid something illegal,probablydid something unethical, but nothing illegal, orprobablydid not do anything seriously wrong?

Would you say what Bill Clinton did relating to the pardons was – [ROTATED: very unethical (or) slightly unethical]?

 

	2001 Mar 9-11
	%
Clinton did something illegal	18
Clinton did something very unethical, but not illegal	35
Clinton did something slightly unethical, but not illegal	22
Clinton did not do anything seriously wrong	22
No opinion	3
Total unethical	57

Overall, do you approve or disapprove of Bill Clinton's presidential pardon of financier Marc Rich?

 

		Approve	Disapprove	No opinion
2001 Mar 5-7		11%	75	14
2001 Feb 19-21 ^		20%	62	18
^	Based on half sample.

Currently, congressional committees are holding hearings into Bill Clinton's pardon of financier Marc Rich. Do you think these hearings should continue, or not?

 

	Yes, should continue	No, should not continue	No opinion
2001 Mar 5-7	49%	43	8