The FINANCIAL — Monica Lewinsky, the White House intern who left a stain on Bill Clinton’s presidency, is now using her experiences to be a campaigner against bullying. Looking back on the sex scandal that led to Clinton’s impeachment nearly 20 years ago, do Americans consider her a victim or a willing accomplice?
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 69% of Likely U.S. Voters now believe the 22-year-old White House intern’s relationship with the 49-year-old president was a consensual one between two adults. Just 22% believe Lewinsky was the victim of an older, more powerful man.
Seventy-one percent (71%) of women describe it as a consensual relationship, compared to 66% of men.
Only 28% of all voters have a favorable opinion of Lewinsky, while 57% share an unfavorable one. This includes five percent (5%) with a Very Favorable view and 22% with a Very Unfavorable one. Three percent (3%) say they have never heard of her, and another 12% are undecided.
Lewinsky is now using her notoriety to be an anti-bullying ambassador, but 51% of voters think her efforts will have no impact on the problem. Twenty-two percent (22%) believe she will help the anti-bullying cause, while 16% say she will hurt it. Twelve percent (12%) are not sure.
When asked which president has been the most influential in the past 60 years, 13% of voters say Clinton. Ronald Reagan leads the list with 32% support, while nine percent (9%) feel that way about President Obama.
Democrats are less likely to consider Lewinsky a victim of the Democratic president than Republicans and unaffiliated voters are. But most voters in all three groups consider the sexual relationship between Clinton and the intern to be a consensual one.
The majority of voters across nearly all demographic categories share that view and also hold an unfavorable opinion of Lewinsky.
Interestingly, GOP voters have a more unfavorable view of her than Democrats and unaffiliateds do.
Women dislike the now-41-year-old Lewinsky more than men do. Even voters who think Lewinsky was a victim have a slightly more unfavorable than favorable view of her.
Voters under 40 are more likely to think Lewinsky’s efforts will help the fight against bullying.
In a 2012 survey, most working Americans said their workplace is free of gender discrimination and didn’t know anyone who’s been a victim of it. But women continued to be more skeptical than men.
Thirty-two percent (32%) of voters favored Obama’s impeachment last July, but nearly twice as many (58%) were opposed.
Hillary Clinton remains the frontrunner for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, and 54% think Bill Clinton will help his wife’s run for the White House. Only 13% think he will hurt her candidacy.
With Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush likely to run for the presidency next year, there has been a Clinton or a Bush running in every presidential election but one since 1988. Forty-one percent (41%) of voters are worried the United States is developing an unofficial group of royal families with too much influence over government and politics, but 57% don’t share that concern about “dynasty” politics.
Bullying remains a serious issue for Americans, but now more are saying it’s a problem for the schools, not parents, to handle.
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