Poll: Politicians exaggerate deeds

WASHINGTON, April 8 (UPI) -- Most American believe U.S. politicians embellish the truth, a poll indicates.

According to a Fox 5/The Washington Times/Rasmussen poll, nearly three-quarters of American say they believe politicians exaggerate their virtues,The Washington Times reported Tuesday.

Overall, 71 percent of the respondents agreed that politicians "embellish the truth" when discussing their accomplishments. Ten percent said politicians don't exaggerate, while 19 percent said they were not sure.

By party affiliation, Republicans were more mistrustful of politicians' claims than were Democrats, with 76 percent of Republicans saying they are suspicious of politicos' claims, compared to 66 percent of Democrats who feel the same way.

The newspaper reported that the issue of honesty on the campaign trail has been in the spotlight since mid-March, when Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton told an audience that during a 1996 trip to Bosnia as first lady, she raced for cover from sniper fire after landing there.

"Honesty has become a sensitive issue this year because Mrs. Clinton made such an issue about her preparedness to become president," said Steven Smith, a professor of political science at Washington University in St. Louis.

Neither the poll's sample size nor margin of error were reported.