Presidential race also a clash of issues

By Will Lester
The Associated Press

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

The rival worries competed with each other to keep yesterday's race between President Bush and Democrat John Kerry close, Associated Press exit polls found.

Three-fourths said they worried about the possibility of another terrorist attack, but they split their votes between Bush and Kerry.

The poll exploring the electorate's frame of mind was conducted among 13,047 voters for AP and the television networks by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International.

"I was really disappointed with both candidates," said Melissa Smith, 40, of Swift Creek, N.C., who said she didn't make up her mind until she filled out her ballot. "Bush has made some choices for the wrong reasons. But I'm not sure I think Kerry has the strength to lead us in the right direction."

After the 2000 election, one of the most disputed contests in U.S. history, the country united around Bush's presidency when terrorists attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. But that unity faded and the nation became polarized. Yesterday's electorate appeared as divided as it was four years ago.

Nowhere were the sharp divisions among voters more evident than on the issue of Iraq. People were split about evenly on whether they approve of Iraq, with those approving heavily supporting Bush and those disapproving, heavily supporting Kerry.

A little more than half said the war has not improved the long-term security of the United States and said the war is going badly.

Bob Greene, 49, of New Haven, Conn., said he supported Kerry because of anger toward Bush and the war in Iraq.

"Bush is going to kill more of our kids if he wins another four years," said Greene, who has two sons, ages 18 and 22.

Bush carried white men, voters with family income of more than $100,000 and weekly churchgoers. Three-fourths of white voters who described themselves as born-again Christians or evangelicals supported Bush. That group represented about one-fifth of all voters.
 
Kerry was the overwhelming favorite of black voters and had a big lead among Hispanics, although Bush improved his performance with that key group. Kerry had a lead of almost 10 percent among women, another core group of Democratic supporters.

Young voters supported Kerry over Bush by more than 15 percentage points, but the expected surge in their participation this year was not evident. Fewer than 10 percent of voters were between age 18 and 24, about the same share of the electorate as in 2000. But they were evenly split between Bush and Gore four years ago.

About one-fifth of the voters considered themselves born-again Christians, and they cast ballots for the president by a 4-1 ratio. That's about the same ratio as in 2000, when Christians who described themselves as part of the religious right said they were for Bush.

Bush fared best among those who said moral values were the most important issue, and among those who responded terrorism — two of the top issues.

"I think [Osama] bin Laden is scared of Bush," said Rebecca Lesko, 50, of Linwood, N.J. "That's why we haven't been bombed yet."

More than half in the poll said the bin Laden videotape released over the weekend was an important development in the presidential race. Those who said it was important leaned toward Kerry.

Kerry fared best among those who said the economy was most important and those who said Iraq was their top concern — two of the other top issues.

A majority said the economy wasn't doing well, and people were evenly divided between whether their family's financial situation was better or worse than four years ago.

In addition to in-person interviews yesterday, the survey included 500 absentee or early voters interviewed by telephone during the past week. The margin of sampling error for the entire sample was plus or minus 1 percentage point.

Information on the rise and fall of Bush's popularity after the Sept. 11 attacks was provided by The Washington Post.