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Friday 3rd July 2009 | 07:33

Americans believe Mark Sanford should resign as SC Governor

Disappearing was his biggest mistake

After South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford disappeared for six days without leaving word as to where he was going, and with his staff and his wife giving conflicting explanations of his whereabouts, he returned last week only to admit that he had been in Argentina, visiting a woman with whom he had been having a yearlong affair.

Governor Sanford has said that he will not resign his post and plans to serve out the next 18 months of his term. However, a majority of Americans would rather show him the door.

According to a new PoliticsHome poll, 61% of Americans feel that Governor Sanford should resign as Governor of South Carolina.  Only 29% believe he should remain in his post.

An overwhelming majority of Democrats, 74%, believe that Sanford should step down. 58% of Independents agree.  Republicans are split down the middle on the issue, with 45% saying he should resign and 45% saying that he should not.  

Sanford has been criticized not just for having an affair, but also for leaving the state without informing anyone of where he would be going.  Of the mistakes made by the governor in this incident, 46% believe that disappearing to Argentina was the biggest.  Only 8% feel that having an extramarital affair was the biggest mistake, though 40% give equal weight to both the affair and the disappearance.  These answers were consistent across the political spectrum.

52% of Americans think affairs are a private matter

On the issue of extramarital affairs and politicians overall, a slim majority, 51%, of Americans believe it should be a private matter only.

Conversely, 40% think it is a public matter when a politician has an affair.

Overall, Democrats are more likely to see it as a private matter, with Republicans more inclined to see it as a public concern. Independents are split more evenly on the issue, though they do break towards seeing it as a private matter.

PoliticsHome interviewed 1,388 Americans from the PoliticsHome OpinionAmerica panel by e-mail from 26 to 29 June.

Results are weighted to represent the United States politically.

-ENDS-