    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
    [November 5, 1994]
    [Pages 2009-2010]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Interview With Cynthia Louie and Fred Wayne of KCBS Radio, San
    Francisco, California
    November 5, 1994

    Midterm Elections

        Ms. Louie. Mr. President, thank you very much for your time, and
    welcome to KCBS.
        The President. Thanks, Cynthia. It's nice to hear your voice.
        Ms. Louie. There is a new poll out today from Newsweek, and I'm
    sorry to give you this bad news, but there is a new poll out today from
    Newsweek showing that your approval rating has dropped to 40 percent.
    And these polls seem to come out fairly frequently with results up and
    down. Why do you suppose you're down now, and do you pay much attention
    to these surveys?
        The President. No, because, first of all, the polls are directly
    related to how much people know about the record of the administration.
    And all the surveys show that about--over 60 percent of the American
    people approve of the work of this administration if they know the
    facts. The frustrating thing is, and the frustrating thing in all these
    elections, is that people have so little way of getting the facts.
        If you look at this California election, it's a classic example. I
    mean, look at the Senate race. Dianne Feinstein has done things in the
    United States Senate in only 2 years that no Senator in our lifetime has
    ever accomplished: the assault weapons ban, a law requiring no tolerance
    for gun ownership--possession for children in school, the California
    desert bill. And she's being opposed by Michael Huffington, who never
    even lived in California until 1991, who bought a race in the Congress
    with his fortune and then, when he ran for the Senate, lost his own
    congressional district in the Republican primary and still looks like he
    has a chance to win because he can spend money to put things on the
    television that aren't true.
        This is a very negative, confused, difficult time. And the truth is,
    in a lot of these polls it depends on what information the voters have
    and how you ask the question. The only things that really count are
    these elections, but it's getting harder and harder and harder for
    voters to make good decisions if all they get is a constant barrage of
    negative information and they never get the facts.
        The truth is, we've got a 4-year low in unemployment; jobs are
    growing 5 times as fast under our administration as they did under the
    Bush administration. We're doing things for working people like the
    family leave law, immunizing all of our children under 2, expanding Head
    Start, lower cost college loans. We're moving this country in the right
    direction. And we are leading the world in moving toward peace and
    freedom and democracy.
        If people think about the record and understand the direction, they
    give us a lot of support. But you can't blame people for not voting on
    what they don't know.

    Immigration

        Mr. Wayne. Mr. President, let's get on to the subject of illegal
    immigration. We of course know that you are on record against
    Proposition 187 in this State. That whole issue is causing so many ill
    feelings; there's anger on both sides. What can you tell us about the
    threat that Cali-

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    fornia could lose Federal funding if that initiative passes, one, and as
    a second part, what commitment can you make to our listeners about what
    the Federal Government might be able to do to help with the problem of
    illegal immigration?
        The President. Well, first of all, let's try to--let me try to talk
    some sense about this issue. The people of California do have a problem
    with illegal immigration, which is more severe when the economy is in
    trouble. But since I became President, I have been trying to help you
    solve it. I mean, from the day I got in office I knew I had a mess in
    immigration on my hands, and I started trying to fix it 21 months ago.
        What have we done? We have almost doubled the border guards in San
    Diego, along the border down there. We have almost doubled the number of
    illegal aliens who have been convicted of crimes we're sending back out
    of the country. We're giving money to California for the first time to
    help deal with the cost of imprisonment. I've asked Congress to
    appropriate literally hundreds of millions of dollars to help you deal
    with the cost of education and health care. We have increased funding to
    California to deal with immigration by one-third, even though we are
    reducing Federal spending overall for the first time in 25 years. So we
    are moving to deal with this problem. We are also looking at ways that
    we can be tougher on incentives for employers not to hire illegal aliens
    and how we can keep up with the records.
        So I think the people of California should want more done. I think
    the Federal Government should do more. I have been in the forefront of
    doing that, working with Senator Feinstein, Senator Boxer, and others.
        I simply don't agree that 187 is the right way to go because, first
    of all, nearly everybody thinks it's unconstitutional. Secondly, it will
    be directed primarily against children. If you kick children out of the
    health clinics, you may run the risk of causing health problems for the
    general California population. If you say kids have got to be kicked out
    of school, you turn the teachers into police officers and you say,
    ``We're going to put more kids on the street.'' Well, we've got too many
    kids on the street in America and California today already. It's liable
    to raise the crime rate and cause all kinds of problems.
        So my view is that 187 is not the right way to do this, and it could
    cause California a lot of problems. You know, California is coming back
    economically. You've got the lowest unemployment rate in 3 years here. I
    have worked as hard as I know how to get investment back into
    California, to sell California high-tech products around the world, to
    sell California agricultural products around the world. We're even
    selling California rice in Japan for the first time. The strength of
    California is in its diversity. So the issue is how can we enforce the
    immigration laws and still build on our diversity. And I don't think 187
    is the way to go.
        Ms. Louie. Mr. President, we have so many more questions for you.
    Unfortunately, your people are telling us that you are out of time, your
    time is limited, and you have to go. So thank you very much for joining
    us today on KCBS.
        The President. Thank you. I'm on my way up to the Kaiser Center in
    Oakland at 2:30, and I hope I see some people up there, too. Thanks.
        Mr. Wayne. Mr. President, you'll see us there. Thank you very much.
        The President. Great.

    Note: The interview began at 12:45 p.m. The President spoke by telephone
    from the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA.