Poll favors Miers' withdrawal

PRINCETON, N.J., Oct. 28 (UPI) -- The U.S. public, by a small margin, was more pleased than disappointed with Harriet Miers' withdrawal as a Supreme Court nominee, a new poll shows.

Results of a special CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll conducted Thursday night indicate those who favored her withdrawal were mostly concerned about Miers' qualifications and her closeness to President Bush, rather than her ideology.

Those questioned who were pleased outnumbered those who weren't by 42 percent to 35 percent.

Those questioned in the poll indicated that Miers' withdrawal was only a minor setback for the president, or no setback at all.

Going forward, about 4-in-10 of respondents want Bush's new nominee to be conservative, while 3-in-10 think it is very important that he nominate another woman to replace Sandra O'Connor.

In Gallup's Oct. 21-23 poll, a plurality thought the Senate should reject the Miers nomination and also showed significant disappointment over Bush's choice.

Results are based on telephone interviews with 516 national adults, aged 18 and older. The data have a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.