I don't hear his spending cuts."Ĭolleen Casey, a purchasing manager who supported Perot, said, "He's doing a poor job, a D minus. "A very poor job," said Ruth Pagelow, who works at a nursing home and switched her vote from George Bush in 1988 to Clinton last fall. "I'm fairly well disappointed in his performance," said Ted Lontkowski, a printer who supported Clinton. But their report cards for the new administration were universally low. They either voted for him - some with reservations - or for independent candidate Perot. They are the kind of people Clinton needs to persuade if he is to enlarge his 43 percent election plurality into a governing majority. On Tuesday night, The Post convened a focus group of voters in Milwaukee. And many of those who backed him nervously and reluctantly last November express second thoughts about whether he is up to the job. He has converted few of George Bush's or Ross Perot's supporters. But the poll and the interviews show early symptoms of a dangerous political drift for Clinton. Republican minorities in Congress are blamed more than Clinton for the return of gridlock. The cynicism extends to all of Washington, with the poll measuring trust in government to "do what is right" at an all-time low.ĭespite a significant infusion of new blood, Congress remains a despised institution, one that swallows up newcomers and converts them to a culture of special interests and political infighting.
I thought this man, a younger man with new advisers, could get in there and do a better job. We couldn't afford four more years of Bush. Bosch, a retired electrician from Santa Ana, Calif., who supported Clinton last November. And they fear that the problems Clinton faces are bigger and more difficult than either he or they believed right after the election. They are more skeptical that Clinton has the capability or the political skill to accomplish what he promised during his campaign. But the main conclusion of the poll and voter interviews in three swing states is that six months after the "big change" election of 1992, many voters feel that they are living through a bad dream they've had before. He's trying to please too many people all at the same time, without really looking at the heart of the issues."Ī Washington Post-ABC News Poll shows Clinton's overall approval rating holding fairly steady, but there is little sense of accomplishment and a reversal of the early optimism about ending gridlock in Washington.Ĭongress's ratings are worse than Clinton's, and Republicans appear to have damaged themselves by moving into open opposition to the president. His first 100 days, I'd have to give him an F. "I had some high hopes," said Linda Brantley, a Milwaukee postal service investigator and Clinton voter, "but they were shot down kind of quickly. Whatever the voters may have believed last winter about what Clinton and the new Congress would do to fix the economy, reduce the federal deficit and put the country on a different path, they are noticeably more doubtful today. The first hundred days of Bill Clinton's presidency have diminished public expectations that he - or anyone else in Washington - can do much to turn around a country that seven out of 10 voters think is going in the wrong direction.
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