Rice popular but not as beloved as Powell: poll

WASHINGTON - Condoleezza Rice is scoring high points with US public as the new secretary of state but remains far less popular than her predecessor Colin Powell, according to a Gallup poll released Tuesday.
The poll, conducted March 18-20 as Rice was winding up a six-nation tour of Asia, showed that 61 percent of Americans approved of her performance as chief US diplomat. Twenty-four percent dispproved and 15 percent has no opinion.
A separate Gallup survey in February found that 59 percent had a favorable opinion of Rice, just about the same as the first female secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, who scored around 60 percent while serving from 1997 to 2000.
But both were eclipsed by Powell, who averaged an 85 percent favorability rating while serving as probably the most popular figure in the first-term cabinet of President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005.

03/29/2005 17:15 GMT