Gallup: GOP Voters Turned Out; Dems Didn't

NewsMax ^ | 11/7/02 | Limbacher

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

The key to Tuesday's Republican earthquake, where the GOP recaptured the Senate and increased their majority in the House, was turnout, says the Gallup polling organization.

"The last CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll before the election showed Republicans winning the national congressional vote by a margin of 51 percent to 45 percent, virtually identical to the actual voting results, according to preliminary reports," Gallup reports on its Web site Thursday.

"The poll also showed that Republicans expressed greater enthusiasm for the election than did Democrats, and that the projected turnout rate for Republicans was 43 percent, compared with 36 percent for Democrats."

If accurate, Gallup's projections represent a dramatic turnaround from the 2000 presidential election, where key Democrat constituencies in states like Florida swamped the polls while Republican turnout stayed flat.

African-Americans, for instance - who make up 12 percent of Florida's population - actually cast 16 percent of the votes in the 2000 race, Democrat claims of raced-based voter "disenfranchisement" notwithstanding.

This year, however, Democrats didn't get anywhere near that level of support, as evidenced by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's landslide win over challenger Bill McBride.

[cincinnati65]

You know, if I throw out 350 different polls that report 350 different results in the two weeks before an election, the odds are that one of them will be close to right. Spin takes care of the rest.

[wideawake]

The Democrats worked very hard to get the vote out, too.

I wonder if Republican vigilance eliminated hundreds of thousands of illegal votes which would have normally gotten a free pass - because I don't think any fewer Democrats showed up than last time.

[KellyAdmirer]

Gallup caught the late turn toward the Republicans, Zogby completely missed it. Sic transit gloria democratica, John.

[GnL]

Gallup is saying that the Republicans won because more people showed up to vote Republican? That's amazing insight.

[Graewoulf]

Only 43 % of the Republicans turned out. That is not good.

Do you have any data on what percentage of all the registered voters turned out to vote?

Also, any data on the % of people that voted out of the total voter age population? That is, registered plus non-registered = total voter age population.

[maranatha]

I heard Terry Mc on some tv show this morning saying that Bush's approval rating on Sept 10, 2001 was 32%. That sounded like a lie to me so I did a search on Gallup and his approval was at 51%. Lying dems never cease to amaze me. He knows this is easily checked if any tv news person cared to. Clinton is being quoted as saying Bush's high approval rating is due just to what happened on 9/11. These guys are such scum.

[JLELIO]

All over the country, extra eyes were watching and this may have been a big reason for the depressed Dem turnout. It really doesn't matter now, Tuesday was a great day!! I can't wait to watch the Sunday morning experts put their spin on this, it's been a long while since I have turned the TV on Sunday mornings. I'll enjoy it this week for sure!