The public seems to be curiously detached about the fighting in Yugoslavia. Although it is divided — roughly one-half of Americans favor the current U.S. and NATO bombing of Serbian military targets and about one-third oppose the military intervention — there seems to be surprisingly little intensity on either side of the issue.
A CBS News survey taken on March 28, the day after a U.S. Air Force F-117A Stealth fighter was shot down over Serbia and its pilot rescued, found that 51 percent of the respondents favored the air strikes, while 37 percent opposed the attacks. The U.S. involvement appears to have had some impact on President Clinton's standing in the polls, with his job-approval rating dropping from 65 percent to 60 percent within a week, according to the CBS survey. His disapproval rating climbed 4 percentage points, from 28 percent to 32 percent. It's interesting to note that even on the economy Clinton's approval ratings have dipped a bit, from 76 percent to 70 percent, with disapproval jumping from 14 percent to 20 percent.
Kathy Frankovic, director of
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