Post Election Survey
Voters Side with Bush for Now
Introduction and Summary By the weekend, George W. Bush was further ahead of Al Gore in the battle for public opinion than he was in the vote recount in Florida. A strong majority of voters, including many Gore supporters, think he will have legitimately won the presidency if he prevails in the Florida recount. And […]
Popular Vote A Tossup: Bush 49%, Gore 47%, Nader 4%
Introduction and Summary The Pew Research Center’s final pre-election poll of 1,301 likely voters, conducted Nov. 2-5, finds 45% backing George W. Bush, 43% for Al Gore, 4% for Ralph Nader, less than 1% supporting Pat Buchanan, and 8% undecided. The Bush margin is well within sampling error, and narrowed slightly over the course of […]
Election Weekend Survey
The Last Lap
In the closing weeks of the presidential race, coverage was strikingly negative, and Vice President Al Gore got the worst of it. In contrast, George W. Bush was twice as likely as Gore to get coverage that was positive in tone, more issue-oriented and more likely to be directly connected to citizens.
Attentive Swing Voters Lean Toward Gore; Inattentive Voters Are Split
As the presidential campaign moves into the home stretch, two distinctly different groups of swing voters may well determine the outcome. Attentive swing voters — those who have followed the campaign relatively closely and are just as likely to vote as those who have made up their minds — currently favor Al Gore and strongly […]
Voter Opinions Stalled
Introduction and Summary With two weeks to go until Election Day, voters still can’t choose between Al Gore and George W. Bush. The perceived strengths and weaknesses of both candidates continue to drive voter indecision. People have a better opinion of the Texas governor personally than they had in September, prior to the debates. At […]
Presidential Debate Clouds Voters’ Choice
Introduction and Summary Al Gore’s personality may be costing him votes. Although a plurality of voters believe he won the first presidential debate, he has lost his small September lead over George W. Bush. As the race has narrowed, an increasing number of voters who oppose the vice president say they dislike his personality. On […]
A Question of Character
If elections are a battle for control of message through the media, George W. Bush has had the better of it on the question of character than Albert Gore Jr., according to this study of coverage leading up to the GOP convention. But the public may not be getting - or believing - the message.