The base
Posted on 03/09/2004 7:39:50 PM PST by nypokerface
WASHINGTON - Voters in four primaries Tuesday were older and more liberal than those from earlier Southern contests, and were eager to see U.S. troops brought home from Iraq, according to exit polls.
With little doubt that John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee would carry the day, voters who went to the polls were particularly dedicated and had the free time to make the trip.
The exit polls of voters were conducted in Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas for The Associated Press and the TV networks by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International.
Almost eight in 10 voters on Tuesday said Kerry shares their values, with almost half saying he shares them a lot. The top issue was the economy and Kerry won four of five of those voters in the four states.
On average, almost half of voters said they were angry with President Bush, and the feeling was higher in states like Florida, where Bush's brother, Jeb, is governor, and in Texas, the president's home state.
"I hope Kerry beats Bush, and I hope he beats him well," said Clarence Patterson of North Miami. "I don't think Bush is being frank with the country. He hasn't been frank regarding the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The economy is bad. Soldiers are still dying."
In Florida, one-fourth of those going to the polls were less than confident that votes in their state will be accurately counted this year. Problems with Florida's elections in 2000 led to the presidential election being settled by the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of Bush. Anger at Gov. Bush was almost as high — four in 10 were angry — as the anger at President Bush.
In Texas, Democrats have been steaming over GOP's redrawing of congressional district boundaries. Anger at the Republican governor of Texas, Rick Perry, was almost as high — about four in 10 _as the number who said they were angry at President Bush.
By comparison, only two in 10 in Mississippi said they were angry at Republican Gov. Haley Barbour.
More than four in 10 voters in the four primaries want to see all the U.S. troops pulled out of Iraq, while another three in 10 want some of the troops withdrawn.
Some other noteworthy findings:
_Black voters were more likely than whites, 55 percent to 35 percent, to want the United States to withdraw all troops from Iraq.
_When asked their preference for a running mate for John Kerry, 51 percent chose North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, the most support of any candidate. New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton tied Edwards among black voters.
_Almost four in 10 voters said they oppose legal recognition of gay marriage, and more than half in Mississippi felt that way. More than half of black voters on Tuesday also opposed legal recognition of same-sex marriage — including a majority in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
_The most important issue Tuesday was the economy, with about four in 10 voters describing it as worse than four years ago.
Economic concerns take many forms for Rita Crowder, a 58-year-old teacher in Little Elm, Texas.
"As I'm getting older, I'm looking at the Social Security things," she said. "I'm looking at the Medicare and the drug prescription plans."
The exit polls are based on interviews with 1,899 voters in Florida, 800 voters in Louisiana, 823 voters in Mississippi and 1,404 voters in Texas. They have margins of sampling error that range from plus or minus 7 percentage points in Louisiana, to plus or minus 3 percentage points in Florida.
Besides, now that only FrankenKerry is an active candidate, (Sharpton and The Lawn Gnome don't count) I would expect that the more moderate Democrats that would have voted for Edwards, Clark, Gephardt, or Lieberman most likely stayed home thus giving the Kerry (ultra left) wing a greater percentage of the vote than in previous primaries.
...so more federal dollars can be spent on their worthless, self-centered lives.
Didn't you know that our tax dollars are better spent on these gang-banging crack whores than on our national defense?
Sounds more like it was a bunch of Social Security, Medicare, and free drug types that the article is talking about.
"More than three quarters of Republican voters, who largely failed to turn out for the Democratic primary, favored the continued meaningless killing of our military personnel in the controversial war on Iraq, and seemed unconcerned with the eventual collapse of the Sun into a white dwarf with the attendant extinction of all life, including that of major labor unions."
"The Republicans want to take your social security benefits away."
Ten out of ten senior Americans don't want the evil Pubs to flop them out into the dumpster.
The REAL story here is that the YOUNGER. less Liberal voters did not turn out to vote Democrat!
Why might that be?
Could it be that they did NOT find a compelling candidate in the Democrat slate for President?
Perhaps it is because their presidential candidate would NOT be on the Democrat primary ballot... but would be on the Republican primary ballot AND on the general ballot come November!
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