President Clinton's job-approval numbers enjoyed an uptick in the first national polls taken after NATO and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic signed their tentative agreement. Even so, a successful accord may not solve a more systemic political problem facing the President. A growing public pessimism--about the country and where it is headed--exists independent of events in Kosovo and, for that matter, in spite of a strong economy and a booming stock market.
President Clinton's highest-ever job-approval numbers in Gallup Organization polling for CNN and USA Today came in a survey taken on Dec. 19-20, 1998, the weekend that the House approved articles of impeachment against the President. Six Gallup polls taken during the Jan. 7-Feb. 12 Senate trial showed Clinton's job-approval rating consistently between 65 percent and 70 percent, with his disapproval rating ranging from 27 percent to 33 percent. Clinton enjoyed a postimpeachment halo for another month, with his Gallup job-approval ratings in four polls ranging from 66 percent to 68 percent. This is an extraordinary level for a President in his seventh year in office. Ronald Reagan's job- approval
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