POLL FINDS MOST IN U.S. HAPPY WITH STATUS QUO

Happy days are here again. Or at least happier days, according to a new
Washington Post-ABC News national survey that found Americans are far more
satisfied now than at any time in recent years with the overall direction
of the country, their elected leaders in Washington and with the
performance of the federal government.

Economic growth at home and relative peace abroad continue to benefit
President Clinton, whose job-approval rating stands at 60 percent -- the
22nd consecutive time since mid-1995 that his approval rating has topped 50
percent in the poll.

At the same time, public support for Congress is as high now as it was in
the euphoric days immediately after the Persian Gulf War in 1991. Three out
of four Americans approve of the job their representative in Congress is
doing, a record for the 1990s. Currently, two out of three say their
representative ``deserves'' to be re-elected.

Though half the country continues to express some unhappiness with the
federal government, far more people than ever say they are satisfied with
the way government is working.

Even those ``angry white males'' of elections past seem less dyspeptic
today than they were a few years ago. According to the survey, 44 percent
of working-class white men interviewed said they were at least
``satisfied'' with the performance of the federal government, more than
double the 20 percent who expressed a similar view in 1995.

House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., also is enjoying a surge in respect, if
not popularity: 40 percent of those interviewed said they approved of the
job Gingrich was doing as speaker, up from 26 percent in April. But only 32
percent said they had an overall favorable impression of him, up from 23
percent nine months ago.

While Clinton and Congress have benefited from buoyed public spirits, Vice
President Al Gore has not. The proportion of Americans who question whether
Gore has the honesty and integrity to be president stands at 46 percent, up
slightly from 43 percent in October.

Is everybody happy? Not quite. Half of those interviewed said the country
is ``seriously off on the wrong track.'' But that's down from 77 percent
two years ago.

A total of 1,206 randomly selected adults were interviewed Jan. 15-19. The
margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points.