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Reasons Why People Are Voting for Bush or Kerry


Fluffybunny

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This poll is a couple of weeks old and the numbers continue to fluctuate, but I thought that the percentages of why a candidate was getting a vote from a person was kind of interesting. The formatting of the spreadsheet doesn't keep too well on the post, but it is still readable.

The fact that many people are voting for Kerry to get Bush out of office didn't really surprise me...

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- Gallup's latest poll, conducted Sept. 13-15, shows President George W. Bush's lead over Democratic challenger John Kerry growing wider than at any other time over the past several months.

But what's behind the support of each of these two candidates? The Sept. 13-15 poll asked Americans in an open-ended question to give the one or two most important reasons why they are voting for their particular candidate.

The results show that Bush supporters (those who say they would vote for Bush if the election was held today) generally are voting on the basis of the president's performance, his stance on terrorism, and his leadership qualities. Kerry supporters generally say they want to get Bush out of the White House, but a substantial number also say they are voting for Kerry because of their opinion about the war in Iraq and the current administration's policies on terrorism or national security.

Bush Supporters Say…

Bush supporters are most likely to say they would vote to re-elect Bush because they approve of his job performance and his policies. The most frequently mentioned response is that Bush simply is "doing a good job," mentioned by 27% of registered Bush voters. The next most frequently mentioned responses are Bush's stances on Iraq, terrorism, and national security, mentioned by 21% of registered Bush voters, and his leadership qualities, mentioned by 20%. Roughly one in six registered voters say they are voting for Bush because he is honest or ethical (16%) and because Bush has "good moral values/religious beliefs" (15%).

What Are the Most Important One or Two Reasons Why You Would Vote for

George W. Bush?

2004 Sep 13-15

Registered Bush voters

%

Doing a good job/satisfied with job performance

27

War issues/stance on terrorism/national security

21

Leadership quality/better candidate for the job

20

Honesty/integrity/ethics

16

Good moral values/religious beliefs

15

Favor his agenda/ideas/platforms/goals

6

Like Bush/good character

6

Abortion issues

5

Not a good time for change

4

Economic issues

3

Dislike Kerry/poor character

3

Tax issues

2

Military experience

1

Healthcare

1

Dissatisfied with Kerry's job performance

1

Foreign policy/improved international stance

1

Jobs/unemployment

1

Providing for the elderly

1

Education

*

Other

10

None

2

No opinion

*

Total

146%

Numbers add to more than 100% due to multiple responses.

* Less than 0.5%

BASED ON 468 REGISTERED VOTERS WHO WOULD VOTE FOR BUSH; ±5 PCT. PTS.

Kerry Supporters Say…

More than one in four registered voters who support Kerry say they are voting for Kerry because they want Bush out of office (18%) or more simply they dislike Bush (9%). About one in four say they favor Kerry either because of his platforms and policy goals (13%) or because they favor the Democratic Party more generally (11%). A roughly equal proportion cites the specific issues of the war in Iraq and terrorism (13%), and the economy (11%).

What Are the Most Important One or Two Reasons Why You Would Vote for

John Kerry?

2004 Sep 13-15

Registered Kerry voters

%

Want/need change/get Bush out of office/dissatisfied with Bush

18

War issues/stance on terrorism/national security

13

Favor his agenda/ideas/platforms/goals

13

Economic issues

11

Favor the Democratic Party

11

Dislike Bush/poor character

9

Healthcare

8

Leadership quality/better candidate for the job

8

Like Kerry/good character

7

Foreign policy/improved international stance

6

Honesty/integrity/ethics

6

Jobs/unemployment

5

Military experience

4

More favorable of middle class

2

Education

1

Tax issues

1

Providing for the elderly

1

Doing good job/satisfied with job performance

1

Abortion

1

Good moral values/religious beliefs

*

Other

12

None

1

All

*

No opinion

2

Total

141%

Numbers add to more than 100% due to multiple responses.

* Less than 0.5%

BASED ON 403 REGISTERED VOTERS WHO WOULD VOTE FOR KERRY; ±5 PCT. PTS.

Men and Women Differ in Reasons for Voting for Bush, Kerry

As the following tables illustrate, there are slight differences in the reasons given by men and women who support each of the two candidates.

The main reasons why men are voting for Bush include his leadership qualities (mentioned by 28% of male registered voters), satisfaction with Bush's job performance thus far (25%), and issues relating to Iraq, terrorism, and national security (22%). For women who support Bush, the most important reasons include overall satisfaction with Bush's handling of the presidency (30%), Bush's moral values/religious beliefs (22%), and issues regarding Iraq and terrorism (20%).

There has been some discussion of the fact that Bush may be appealing more to women in this election year because of their concern about national security issues. But the data show that there is little difference in the percentage of women who would vote for Bush and men who would vote for Bush in terms of explaining their vote in reference to terrorism or national security. The largest difference between the genders comes in the "moral values/religious beliefs" category, cited by 22% of women compared with only 10% of men.

What Are the Most Important One or Two Reasons Why You Would Vote for

George W. Bush?

Registered Voters

2004 Sep 13-15

Men

Women

%

%

Leadership quality/better candidate for the job

28

16

Doing a good job/satisfied with job performance

25

30

War issues/stance on terrorism/national security

22

20

Honesty/integrity/ethics

17

18

Good moral values/religious beliefs

10

22

Like Bush/good character

6

7

Favor his agenda/ideas/platforms/goals

5

7

Abortion issues

4

7

Not a good time for change

4

4

Economic issues

4

2

Dislike Kerry/poor character

2

4

Tax issues

2

2

Foreign policy/improved international stance

2

*

Military experience

1

1

Dissatisfied with Kerry's job performance

1

1

Healthcare

1

*

Jobs/unemployment

*

1

Providing for the elderly

*

1

Education

*

*

* Less than 0.5%

Both male and female Kerry supporters appear to be about equally likely to choose Kerry as a vote against Bush. Thirty percent of men say they either want Bush out of the White House (22%) or dislike him (8%). Among women, 29% either want Bush out of office (17%) or dislike him (12%).

Beyond their desire to see Bush voted out of office, men and women show some slight differences in their reasons for supporting Kerry. Men say they are voting for Kerry because of economic issues (18%), issues regarding Iraq and terrorism (14%), Kerry's honesty and integrity (11%), and their preference for Kerry's platforms (10%). Women, meanwhile, say they would vote for Kerry because of his goals and agenda (18%), their preference for the Democratic Party (16%), and issues about the war and terrorism (13%).

The largest two differences between men and women in the reasons they give for their support of Kerry are economic issues (cited by 18% of men and 8% of women) and party loyalty (cited by 5% of men and 16% of women).

What Are the Most Important One or Two Reasons Why You Would Vote for

John Kerry?

Registered Voters

2004 Sep 13-15

Men

Women

%

%

Want/need change/get Bush out of office/dissatisfied with Bush

22

17

Economic issues

18

8

War issues/stance on terrorism/national security

14

13

Honesty/integrity/ethics

11

4

Favor his agenda/ideas/platforms/goals

10

18

Dislike Bush/poor character

8

12

Jobs/unemployment

8

4

Healthcare

7

9

Leadership quality/better candidate for the job

7

9

Like Kerry/good character

6

7

Foreign policy/improved international stance

6

7

Military experience

6

3

Favor the Democratic Party

5

16

More favorable of middle class

3

2

Tax issues

2

1

Doing good job/satisfied with job performance

2

*

Providing for the elderly

1

1

Abortion

1

1

Good moral values/religious beliefs

1

*

Education

*

3

* Less than 0.5%

Survey Methods

These results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,022 adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Sept. 13-15, 2004. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is ±3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

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Top Posters In This Topic

  • panther10758

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  • twpdyp

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  • wunarmdscissor

    10

  • Babs

    9

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sleeping.gif

...just kidding, Fluffy. I fell asleep on this one...what was the point? dontgetit.gifwink2.gif

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Let me recap;

Bush supporters like president's performance, his stance on terrorism, and his leadership qualities.

Kerry supporters want bush out of office.(As I have said; a trained chimp would gather a significant vote as this point as Bush is so disliked by so many people)

The article then goes into breaking down what people liked about each candidate and give a percentage of what each person liked about the candidate.

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Bush is not as disliked as you say otherwise it would not be such c alsoe race at this point. The "dislike" you mention comes from all the Anti Bush spin the Liberal media puts out. Its simple logic if so many disliked bush election would not be predicted to be so close

Edited by panther10758
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Panther if you read the gallup poll, 22% of the male kerry supporters did so simply to remove Bush from office(an additional 8% disliked him). That is a significant number considering the circumstances.

That isnt "liberal spin"; that is simply a poll number gathered by the Gallup institute that makes it apparent that Bush does have a significant percentage of people that dislike him enough to vote against him.

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Polls are complete and utter trash. Unless they called everyone in the united states for there opinion im not going to consider it anything but trash, and since there not going to call everyone then there opinion polls mean nothing to me.

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Exactly polls can say whatever the pollster wants them to say. I totally agree polls are trash used by media and/or other groups to help further their own cause. Its funny with all these "polls" I see on Tv or read about everyday in my nearly 46 years on this world I have never been polled!? Yes polls are trash. Using polls numbers to make points is much like calling looking at tarot cards to predict future

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*thinks the world would be a very scary place indeed if people like Panther, who didn't care about public opinion polls, where ever to somehow end up in a position of power* huh.gif

"Who cares what the public are saying! I think it's trash, so it doesn't matter!"

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I think panther is saying the polls 'aren't' the public. Didn't he just say they've never called him? huh.gif

'They' say, polls don't mean anything. It's people going into those voting booths at the last minute that counts. You guys can say all you want about the polls being in Kerry's favor, but it won't mean anything when it comes down to the line_ Bush is going to win. grin2.gifthumbsup.gif

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Must I spell it out! POLLS MEAN NOTHING. Dont put words in my mouth! Polls are used and miused by BOTH SIDES they tell us nothing!

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It's not the polls that count it's the 'poll booth'. thumbsup.gif

Bush is just better for the country and all of you that don't reside in this country have your own agenda for us. Frankly we are not going to listen to other countries. We need to keep our country safe and other countries and peoples should look to their safety. From what I have been reading and as I have thought, you guys aren't prepared for international terrorism. thumbdown.gif

Edited by Babs
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Bush is just better for the country and all of you that don't reside in this country have your own agenda for us. Frankly we are not going to listen to other countries. We need to keep our country safe and other countries and peoples should look to their safety. From what I have been reading and as I have thought, you guys aren't prepared for international terrorism.

You will probably find, Babs, that not even the good old US of A is as prepared as they need to be for Terrorist attacks.

I'll give you a small example..... Who, right this minute, is guarding and protecting your local drinking water supply?

Another one for good measure.... Who, right this minute, is checking the contents of everyones handbags and backpacks as they enter your local cinema?

And last but not least... Who is searching your public bus service or rail network?

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I think we may be missing the point here a bit.

Regardless of how anyone feels about polls(take a college course in statistics and you may get a better idea of how the polls work; they can be effective, that is why they are used), out of the 1000+ people polled over one quarter of the kerry supporters were voting kerry because they disliked bush or wanted bush out of office. They were not voting for kerry because they liked his policy; they voted for him because he wasn't bush. Kind of sad.

I do find it very funny that any poll posted here that shows bush being ahead gets applause and "bush 2004"/"Bush in a landslide" quotes.

Somehow anytime that a poll comes along that shows bush in any less than a winning position the responses are "polls are trash"/"polls don't mean anything"...

Even though this poll doesn't even show bush being behind, the fact that it points out that he is disliked is enough to get the latter response...

Very interesting.

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Her comment never said we were perfect or that our system was flawless she merely pointed out the difference in protecting between the two countries and I agree with are much more prepared! Perhaps I missed it but I never read where we were totally ready to stop ANY terrorist attack only that we were more ready to stop said attack than other country

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ALL polls are trash regardless of who is victor!

283002[/snapback]

huh.gif

That is an intersting response. I don't quite understand the animosity towards statistics, but you are entitled to your opinion.

Perhaps someone would like to start a thread titled: Terrorism: what countries are ready for an attack? as that seems to be the direction that this thread is going and I would prefer to keep it a bit closer to being on topic than that.

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Perhaps someone would like to start a thread titled: Terrorism: what countries are ready for an attack? as that seems to be the direction that this thread is going and I would prefer to keep it a bit closer to being on topic than that.

Sorry Fluffs, but you know me.... got to say my bit an' all. wink2.gif

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Get out!_gollum...most of what you bring up are soft targets. rolleyes.gif And what about 'your' water supply?

Edited by Babs
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In reply to..................That is an intersting response. I don't quite understand the animosity towards statistics, but you are entitled to your opinion.

Animosity isnt the word I would use however since you brought it up I feel that polls are unrealiable therefore trash. Its not whose Poll it is or who it favors I find them all to be worthless

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Terorist win?! that is almost insulting think of all the lives saved that goes unreported from attacks stopped or prevented by taking a stance againist terrorism! So we should all just lay down and give terrorist everything they want because they win. Now thats scary!

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A vote for George Bush is a vote for family values, morals, security, and a future. A vote for John Kerry is just a vote wasted, just what does he stand for anyway. He went and served in Vietnam, for that he has my respect. Then he comes home and starts protesting the war, for that he lost my respect. I am not denying that war is the only hell on earth, but when you make comments that get our POW's hurt and killed while they are in those God awful POW camps. Just where is this mans brain. Does he really believe that the U.N. would have been able to get Sadam out of power. Please he thumbed his nose at the U.N. sanctions for, what 12 years.

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