When Alice, in Lewis Carroll's book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, said that things were getting "curiouser and curiouser," she could just as easily have been talking about President Clinton's recent problems. Just a week ago, it seemed almost certain that Clinton's presidency would end prematurely. But national polling shows that although Americans give Clinton low marks for such character traits as honesty and trustworthiness, they don't support resignation or impeachment. No more than a third of Americans are ready to push Clinton out of office, despite the seemingly devastating content in Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr's report to the House of Representatives. It would seem that Americans truly are conservative, with a small "c." When the economy is good, they are averse to, if not afraid of, dramatic change. Perhaps they feel as though they hardly know Vice President Al Gore. Perhaps they are content with letting a Republican Congress keep an eye on Clinton.

Before the Starr report, polls suggested that most voters would support resignation or impeachment if it were determined that the president lied under oath. Because

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