The 1997 poll is a national survey of 1,702 adults, conducted between March 21 and April 20, 1997. The survey has 3 components: 850 adults from the national population, 850 African American adults, and 100 Hispanic Americans. The survey's questions cover a broad range of topics, including race relations, politics, devolution, social policy, and children. This release covers findings about politics. On a variety of issues of public policy, there is a remarkable similarity between the views of blacks and whites, and there is a national consensus on balancing the budget. Overall, blacks continue to regard themselves as Democrats, but they continue to be evenly divided among the categories of liberal, moderate, and conservative. People of all three categories regarded the performance of President Clinton as superior to that of Congress. Blacks and the general population agree on most actions to balance the budget, and neither group supports cuts in education, with only 3.7% of blacks surveyed and 8.2% of the general population in favor of education cuts. A somewhat higher proportion of the general population than blacks supports cuts to welfare spending. Both blacks and the general population view crime as the greatest problem facing the nation. Respondents were asked to rate their feelings toward eight prominent public figures. Some differences in respondent educational level to these public figures are noted. Information about respondents' views on children and race relations are found in earlier releases. An appendix discusses survey methodology. (Contains 14 tables and 4 figures, which comprise over half the document.) (SLD)