The Polls: The Public's Response to the Clinton Scandals, Part 2: Diverse Explanations, Clearer Consequences

The public's response to the Clinton administration's many scandals and the president's impeachment is both puzzling and contradictory. They supported the president, but not his behavior; they wanted him severely reprimanded, but not punished; and they wanted him to remain in office, but were happy to see him leave. In this, the second article of a two‐part series (the first of which was published in the March 2002 issue of this journal), the author addresses the explanations of why Mr. Clinton survived that are more directly causal than contextual and closes by noting some continuing consequences of the Clinton scandals and the public's reaction to them.