SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — The majority of Rep. Gary Condit’s constituents think he’s doing a good job, but most would not vote to re-elect him in 2002, a poll shows.
Police sources in Washington, D.C., have said Condit admitted he was having an affair with missing former federal intern Chandra Levy, 24. Initially, Condit described Levy as a “good friend,” and aides denied the two were romantically involved.
What apparently bothers voters most is the potentially illegal cover-up on Condit’s part, not that the 53-year-old married congressman may have had an affair, the San Jose Mercury News reported Sunday.
According to the newspaper’s poll, 77 percent of 400 voters in Condit’s San Joaquin Valley district approve of his work, but nearly 60 percent say they won’t be voting for him again.
The poll, conducted Thursday and Friday by McGuire Research of Denver, has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.
More than a third of the voters polled said Condit should resign. And 55 percent said he should step down if it’s found he asked flight attendant Ann Marie Smith to lie about an alleged affair she had with the congressman.
Of the 62 percent of voters in the poll who said they voted for Condit in 2000, only 36 percent said they would vote for him again next year. Many said they changed their minds because Condit allegedly tried to get Smith to conceal their relationship.
“The fact that he would try to coerce someone into not telling the truth to the police seems to be a lack of respect for the law,” said Carol A. Vinding, 57, a Democrat who voted for Condit.
While 39 percent said they are bothered by Condit’s relationship with Levy, 49 percent said they are very troubled by the congressman’s delay in admitting his affair with the intern — nine weeks after she vanished.
Earlier this month, Condit’s lawyer Abbe Lowell said he had no reason to believe Condit would not seek re-election. Lowell said he thinks Condit’s constituents would like him to serve, and Condit wants to continue.
A message left at the office of Marina Ein, a spokeswoman for Condit, was not immediately returned Sunday.
