
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 12, 1990                   TAG: 9006120037
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

POST-SUMMIT POLL FAVORS BUSH POLICY

The American public approves of the way President Bush is handling foreign policy by nearly 2 to 1, but the public disagrees with the Bush administration's priorities on trade with China and the Soviet Union, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.

Sixty-two percent of the 1,084 adults interviewed last Tuesday through Friday approved of the way Bush was handling foreign policy, a rise of five percentage points since a Times/CBS News Poll taken in May, just before the president's summit meeting with President Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union.

But when asked, "When it comes to international trade, should the United States give more favorable trade privileges to the Soviet Union, or to China?" the public split 49 percent for the Soviet Union and 16 percent for China.

This is in disagreement with the priorities of the Bush administration, which set no conditions on continuing favorable trade status to China but has tied more favorable trade status for the Soviet Union to a liberalization of Soviet emigration policy.

The latest poll reflected the impact of the summit meeting, which ended two days before interviewing for the poll began.

Bush's rating on his handling of the American economy stood at 43 percent approval, a drop of four percentage points since April and six percentage points since January.

Bush's overall approval rating for his handling of his job as president remained unchanged at 69 percent approval, the same level as in May.

by CNB