POLITICS
Thanks to his legandary indecisiveness, Bill Clinton has been depicted as waffle in the comic strip "Doonesbury." But the indignity of being portrayed as a breakfast food aside, Clinton may find that his fickle ways do not hurt his electability.
According to researchers at North Dakota State University, voters prefer a politician who shares their opinion on an issue--even if the candidate has repeatedly changed his or her mind--over one who has consistently maintained an opposing view. As long as the candidate ended on a stance that appealed to voters, it didn't matter how many times he or she flip-flopped, report Kevin McCaul, Ph.D., and colleagues in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Vol. 68, No. 2).
The lesson for the presidential campaign? If Clinton is waffling in a direction appealing to voters, Republicans would do best to ignore the consistency issue.
PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): Doonesbury
