Posted on 03/09/2004 6:24:17 PM PST by ambrose
Exit poll: Florida Democratic voters angry with President Bush
By John Pain The Associated Press March 9, 2004
MIAMI ? Many voters in Florida's Democratic presidential primary Tuesday said they were angry with President Bush's administration, worse off financially than they were four years ago and in favor of reducing the U.S. military presence in Iraq, according to an Associated Press exit poll.
Half the voters in the battleground state that Sen. John Kerry won as expected said they were angry with Bush's administration, and their distaste was almost as great for the president's brother, Gov. Jeb Bush, the poll found. Only a handful of states that have had exit polls for Democratic races so far had higher levels of voters angry with the president than Florida.
"He doesn't think about the middle class. He doesn't think about medicine. He's concerned about going to the moon and Mars," said Carl Altchilar, 76, a retired dentist who voted in Orlando.
Voter turnout was low in a primary for a Democratic presidential nomination that Kerry, a Massachusetts senator, essentially wrapped up last week. As expected, the poll found Kerry received heavy support across most categories of voters in the state that gave Bush the presidency by a razor-thin margin in 2000 and is expected to be crucial this year.
The top two issues were the economy/jobs and health care/Medicare among voters in Florida, according to the poll of 1,899 voters conducted for the AP and television networks by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International. Results were subject to sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, higher for subgroups.
Eight in 10 voters believed the state of the national economy was not so good or poor. Almost half of voters said their family's financial situation was worse today than four years ago, while a third said about the same and only around one in 10 said better.
Bush's Iraq policy also came under fire from Tuesday's voters, even though the issue wasn't as important to them as the economy or health care. More than four in 10 voters said the United States should remove all troops from Iraq, while about a third said some troops should be pulled out. Only two in 10 thought troop levels should stay the same or should be raised.
Retiree Paul Ambrose, of Palm Beach Gardens, was one of those blasting Bush, saying the war and the economy were his biggest failures.
"Really, at 71, I'm voting for my children's future and not mine. That's what brought me out here," Ambrose said.
Florida's senior senator, Bob Graham, fared poorly among voters as a vice presidential candidate. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, who dropped out of the presidential contest last week, was the choice of almost half of voters. Graham had less than half that support and was about even with New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
While some believe Kerry needs to select a charismatic running mate because of his reputation of aloofness and being out of touch with common people, more than eight in 10 voters said Kerry shared many or some of their values.
"I think he's saying the right things now. I think his heart's in the right place," said Lenore Gorkin, a retiree in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Boynton Beach.
About seven in 10 voters Tuesday said they were very or somewhat confident that their votes would be counted accurately this year. Less than one in 10 said they were not at all confident.
Voters were almost evenly divided on the issue of whether gays should be able to marry. About three in 10 voters choose each of the following responses: gay marriage should be allowed, gays should only be able to form civil unions and same-sex relationships should have no legal recognition.
"He doesn't think about the middle class. He doesn't think about medicine. He's concerned about going to the moon and Mars," said Carl Altchilar, 76, a retired dentist who voted in Orlando.
You got that right! Tell us something we don't know!
If the turnout is 2% they'll be lucky.
Even Floriduh RATS couldn't muster the enthusiasm to come out and vote for JF'nK.
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