Wednesday, October 1, 2003

The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll is based on telephone interviews with 505 randomly selected adults nationwide and was conducted Tuesday evening, Sept. 30. The margin of sampling error for overall results is plus or minus 5 percentage points. Sampling error is only one of many potential sources of error in this or any other public opinion poll. Results of overnight polls that attempt to measure opinions about fast-changing news events should be interpreted with extra caution. Interviewing was conducted by TNS Intersearch of Horsham, Pa.

1. Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president? Do you approve/disapprove strongly or somewhat?

             ---------Approve---------   --------Disapprove-------    No
             NET   Strongly   Somewhat   NET   Strongly   Somewhat   opin.
9/30/03      54       34         20      44       29         15        2
9/13/03      58       35         23      40       27         14        2
9/7/03       56       34         22      41       28         13        4
8/11/03*     59       37         22      37       23         14        4
7/10/03      59       35         24      38       25         13        3
6/22/03      68       45         23      29       18         11        4
4/30/03      71       50         22      26        9         17        3
4/16/03      74       52         22      23       14          9        3
4/9/03       77       58         19      20       14          6        4
4/3/03       71       54         16      25       19          7        4
3/23/03      68       NA         NA      27       NA         NA        4
3/20/03      67       NA         NA      28       NA         NA        5
3/2/03       62       38         23      35       22         13        4
2/23/03      60       NA         NA      34       NA         NA        6
2/9/03       64       42         21      34       20         14        3
2/1/03       62       41         21      34       22         13        4
1/28/03      62       43         19      36       23         13        2
1/27/03      59       39         21      37       22         15        4
1/20/03      59       36         23      38       22         16        2
12/15/02     66       37         28      32       20         12        2
11/4/02  LV  67       45         23      31       20         12        1
11/3/02  LV  67       45         22      32       20         12        1
11/2/02  LV  67       47         20      32       23          9        1
10/27/02 All 67       39         28      29       16         13        4
10/27/02 LV  68       47         21      30       16         14        3
9/26/02      67       42         25      30       18         12        3
9/8/02       71       42         28      27       15         12        3
7/28/02      69       39         31      28       14         14        3
7/15/02      72       42         31      25       13         12        2
6/17/02      74       42         32      22       13          9        4
6/9/02       77       41         36      20       11          9        3
5/19/02      76       48         28      22       13          8        3
4/21/02      78       47         31      20       10          9        2
3/28/02      79       49         30      18       10          8        3
3/10/02      82       52         30      16        7          9        2
1/27/02      83       56         27      14        7          7        3
12/19/01     86       64         22      12        6          6        2
11/27/01     89       69         21       9        5          4        1
11/6/01      89       65         24       9        4          5        2
10/9/01      92       76         16       6        3          3        1
9/27/01      90       70         20       6        3          3        4
9/13/01      86       63         23      12        6          5        2
9/9/01       55       26         29      41       22         20        3
8/12/01      61       28         33      31       17         14        8
7/30/01      59       28         30      38       22         17        3
6/3/01       55       27         28      40       22         18        6
4/22/01      63       33         30      32       16         16        5
3/25/01      58       NA         NA      33       NA         NA        8
2/25/01      55       NA         NA      23       NA         NA       22

2. The U.S. Justice Department has opened an investigation into whether someone in the White House broke the law by identifying a former diplomat's wife as an undercover CIA agent. The former diplomat claims this was done to punish him for criticizing U.S. policy on Iraq. Have you heard or read anything about this situation, or not?

            Yes     No    No opinion
9/30/03     68      32         0

3. Do you think this is a very serious matter, somewhat serious, not too serious or not serious at all?

            -------Serious--------     --------Not serious-------       No
            NET     Very     Smwt.     NET     Not too     At all     opinion
9/30/03     81       48        34      16         7           9          3

4. Just your best guess, how likely or unlikely do you think it is that someone in the White House leaked this classified information - very likely, somewhat likely, somewhat unlikely or very unlikely?

            --------Likely--------     -------Unlikely-------       No
            NET     Very     Smwt.     NET     Smwt.     Very     opinion
9/30/03     72       34        38      24       13        10         5

5. Just your best guess, how likely or unlikely do you think it is that George W. Bush knew in advance that someone in the White House was going to leak this classified information - is it very likely that Bush knew about it, somewhat likely, somewhat unlikely or very unlikely?

            --------Likely--------     -------Unlikely-------       No
            NET     Very     Smwt.     NET     Smwt.     Very     opinion
9/30/03     34       10        24      62       26        36         4

6. Do you think this investigation should be handled by (the U.S. Justice Department, which is part of the Bush administration), or should it be handled by (an outside investigator known as a special counsel, that is not part of the Bush administration)?

             Justice       Special       No
            Department     counsel     opinion
9/30/03         29            69          3

7. Do you think the White House is or is not fully cooperating with this investigation?

                Yes,          No, not         No
            cooperating     cooperating     opinion
9/30/03          47              37           16

8. If the investigation finds that someone in the White House leaked classified information, do you think that person should or should not lose their job?

            Yes     No    No opinion
9/30/03     91       5         4

9. If the investigation finds that someone in the White House leaked classified information, do you think that person should or should not face criminal charges?

            Yes     No    No opinion
9/30/03     82      10         8