Saturday January 13 2:17 PM ET Americans Split Over Ashcroft Nomination
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 40 percent of Americans say the U.S. Senate should reject President-elect George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s choice of John Ashcroft for attorney general because he is too far right on issues like abortion, drugs and gun control to be effective, according to a poll issued on Saturday.
The Newsweek poll of 1,000 people said respondents were opposed to Ashcroft by a narrow margin of 41-37 percent, although Bush received good marks for his Cabinet selections in general.
The poll, conducted from Wednesday to Friday, said 57 percent approved of his choices for his new administration and 50 percent said he had not sacrificed quality and competency in favor of ideology or racial and ethnic diversity.
A Time/CNN poll found that although most Americans were unfamiliar with Ashcroft, 61 percent thought the Senate should look carefully at his stance on affirmative action, 53 percent on his position on abortion and 58 percent on his opposition to an African-American nominee for a federal judgeship.
Ashcroft, a prominent Christian conservative and abortion rights foe, has come under attack from civil rights groups over his successful battle to keep black Missouri judge Ronnie White off the federal bench.
The former Republican U.S. senator who served as Missouri's governor and attorney general, is expected to be approved by the full Senate, but the battle over his nomination may be Bush's first major test on Capitol Hill.
With Inauguration Day a week away, the Newsweek poll found Americans split on their opinion of Bush, with 38 percent having a more favorable opinion of him since he became president-elect, but 33 percent having a less favorable opinion.
Only 26 percent of adults surveyed in the poll -- which had a margin of error of plus/minus three percentage points -- said they saw Washington as likely to be more bipartisan under Bush than President Clinton (news - web sites).
The Time/CNN poll, issued on Friday, found 72 percent of Americans had a lot of confidence or some confidence in Bush's ability to provide real leadership for the country, scoring lower than Clinton who had a 77 percent rating at the start of his presidency.
A majority of 53 percent believed Bush's policies would move the country in the right direction, and 58 percent had a favorable view of him, according to the poll taken on Wednesday and Thursday. The margin of error was plus/minus 3.1 percent.
Bush's favorable rating, however, did not make him the most popular figure in his administration -- Secretary of State-designate Colin Powell (news - web sites) had a 77 percent rating.