CBS News Monthly Poll #4, December 1998

This poll, fielded December 18, 1998, is part of a continuing series of monthly surveys that solicit public opinion on the presidency and on a range of other political and social issues. Respondents were asked to give their opinions of President Bill Clinton, the United States Congress, Vice President Al Gore, and House of Representatives' speaker-elect Bob Livingston. Respondents were also asked a series of questions about the Clinton impeachment inquiry and the debate on impeachment, which began earlier in the day in the House of Representatives. Topics covered how much or how little television coverage of the debate respondents watched, how they would like their representative to vote tomorrow on the four articles of impeachment, and what they thought would be the outcome of the inquiry. Regarding the upcoming vote, those queried were asked how much attention they felt Congress should pay to what the majority of Americans thought should happen, and whether they believed that Clinton should resign if the articles of impeachment were sent to the Senate. Respondents were asked if they believed that the timing of the start of the impeachment debate was inappropriate, given that the United States was currently engaged in military actions against Iraq, and whether the debate was impacting the morale of United States troops engaged in that military operation. An additional topic focused on whether respondents thought the media should inform the American people if a member of Congress had been unfaithful to his or her spouse. Background information on respondents includes age, sex, race, education, political party, political orientation, voter registration status, and family income.