South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford cheated on his wife, lied to his family and staff, decided to get away from his children on Father’s Day and disappeared from the country without making arrangements for the execution of his duties in an emergency.

So what do South Carolina voters think of their governor? A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of voters in the state finds that 55% say Sanford is about as ethical as most politicians. Another 18% say he’s more ethical than his peers, and only 18% say his ethical standards are lower than those for most pols.

Those figures, taken from a survey Thursday night, are partly explained by the fact that 33% believe most members of Congress and governors have extramarital affairs, and another 42% are not sure. Only 25% say it’s not true and believe that most political leaders honor their wedding vows.

National surveys have shown that Americans see used-car salesmen as more trustworthy than members of Congress.

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Still, 46% of South Caorlina voters believe Sanford should resign from office, and only 39% disagree. Another 16% are not sure, perhaps waiting to see what else emerges from the story that seems odder than most political scandals.

Sixty-four percent (64%) of Democrats believe the Republican governor should resign. Half of Republicans (49%) and those not affiliated with either major party (53%) disagree.

If Sanford does not resign, 40% of South Carolina voters believe he should be impeached. On this point, 48% disagree.

Whatever else they are doing, South Carolina voters are paying attention to this news story: 68% are following it very closely and another 27% somewhat closely. Only five percent (5%) are tuning it out.

Over the years, one constant in politics has been the low expectations that voters have from politicians on the ethics front. During the scandals surrounding President Clinton in the 1990s, six-out-of-10 voters routinely said that his ethical standards were at least as good as those of most politicians. Last fall, after a jury found Alaska Senator Ted Stevens guilty of ethics violations, 67% said he was at least as ethical as his peers.

Lobbyist Jack Abramoff went to jail following a corruption scandal, but only 15% of Americans believe Abramoff did anything different than what lobbyists typically do.

Voters hold these views because they see the current political process itself as corrupt: 59% say that when members of Congress meet with regulators and other government officials, they do so to help their friends and hurt their political opponents. They believe that fear of congressional action drives most business leaders to contribute to campaigns. Most also believe that donors get more than their money’s worth back for their political “investments.”

But even though they consider it the norm, most Americans don’t like it. In a ranking of 10 major issues facing the nation, government ethics and corruption routinely rank second in importance only to the economy. When asked which party they trust to handle the issue better, a majority of unaffiliated voters typically say neither party.

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