Associated Press
WASHINGTON — First lady Laura Bush has made a positive impression on the public during her six months in the White House. Sixty-four percent have a favorable view, a poll says, and she isn’t running into the resentment faced by Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 1990s.
So far, there isn’t the partisan and gender resentment stirred by Clinton, says the poll by the Pew Research Center for the People &the Press.
Half of Republicans viewed Clinton unfavorably early in her husband’s term and more than a third of men viewed her unfavorably. Men were just as likely as women to have a positive view of Bush. One-fourth of Democrats saw her unfavorably in the poll.
Clinton, now a New York senator, had plenty of supporters as well, with six in 10 viewing her favorably at the start of her stay in the White House, and almost that many viewing her favorably now.
When people were asked what word best describes Bush, they offered such responses as "nice," "lady," "classy," "intelligent," "quiet" and "good." The same question about Clinton drew such answers as "intelligent," "smart," "bossy," "good," "aggressive" and "domineering."
The poll of 1,003 adults was taken July 2-12 and had an error margin of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
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