Why Did Clinton Survive the Impeachment Crisis? A Test of Three Explanations.

In Federalist no. 65, Alexander Hamilton wrote that the impeachment process is a decidedly political one. We use data from a national survey conducted in September and October 1998 to examine explanations for Bill Clinton's survival of the impeachment crisis: the robust economy, his own high popular...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Presidential Studies Quarterly Vol. 37; no. 3; pp. 468 - 486
Autores principales: Silva, Carol L., Jenkins-Smith, Hank C., Waterman, Richard
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Wiley-Blackwell September 2007
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=510680318&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: ssf
    uiTerm: 510680318
    longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson)
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        03604918
        PRQ
      jtl: Presidential Studies Quarterly
      issn: 03604918
      maglogo: N
    pubinfo:
      dt: September 2007
      vid: 37
      iid: 3
      pid: 480
      pub: Wiley-Blackwell
    artinfo:
      ui:
        510680318
        10.1111/j.1741-5705.2007.02607.x
      ppf: 468
      ppct: 18
      formats:
        fmt:
          – @attributes:
              type: T
          – @attributes:
              type: P
              size: 1MB
      tig:
        atl: Why Did Clinton Survive the Impeachment Crisis? A Test of Three Explanations.
      aug:
        au:
          Silva, Carol L.
          Jenkins-Smith, Hank C.
          Waterman, Richard
      su: Impeachment of presidents
      sug:
        subj: Impeachment of presidents
      keyword: Clinton, Bill, 1946- -- Impeachment
      ab: In Federalist no. 65, Alexander Hamilton wrote that the impeachment process is a decidedly political one. We use data from a national survey conducted in September and October 1998 to examine explanations for Bill Clinton's survival of the impeachment crisis: the robust economy, his own high popular standing with the public, and the concomitantly lower public evaluations of his principal investigators, Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr and the Republican-controlled U. S. Congress. Our analysis demonstrates that the performance of the U. S. economy did directly influence public support for impeachment, resignation, continued congressional hearings, and censure (four potential punishment options), but not in the manner most often hypothesized. More favorable assessments of the U.S. economy actually were related to higher levels of support for punishing the president. Evaluations of the president proved to be a double-edged sword Although higher evaluations of Clinton's personal job approval ratings and of his personal ethics ratings are related to lower levels of support for punishment, Clinton benefited more from the former than the latter as his approval ratings were high while the public held considerable doubts about his ethics. Finally, we show that higher public evaluations of Clinton's primary investigators, Starr and the U.S. Congress, were related to higher levels of support for punishing the president. As both actors had an exceedingly low average approval rating, however, this dynamic worked to Clinton's advantage. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
    refInfo:
    copyright:
      @attributes:
        flag: N
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N