Voters Rate Gore as the Candidate Best
Prepared to Lead........http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/03/politics/03POLL.html
By RICHARD L. BERKE with JANET ELDER
OSTON, Oct. 2 — On the
eve of the first presidential
debate here, most Americans say
Gov. George W. Bush and Vice
President Al Gore are strong
leaders, but they consider Mr.
Gore far more prepared for the
White House and better qualified
to deal with world leaders and
members of both parties in
Congress, the latest New York
Times/CBS News Poll shows.
The survey found that as voters start to form detailed impressions of the
candidates, even those who say they intend to back Mr. Bush express
reservations about his preparedness.
But when voters are asked to assess each man on the broader question
of his potential to be "an effective president," the differences largely
vanish; both men receive high marks on the question.
The lingering questions about Mr. Bush's preparedness do not seem to
have affected his overall standing in the head-to-head competition as
reflected in the poll. Not since 1960 has a presidential contest been this
close on the eve of a first debate.
Still, Mr. Bush, the Texas governor, has been struggling with the issue of
his readiness to be president since the campaign began, and it is a matter
that his advisers say he will try to put to rest in the first of three
encounters with Mr. Gore. The first debate will be on Tuesday night at 9
at the Boston campus of the University of Massachusetts.
Taken as a whole, the survey had much encouraging news for Mr. Gore
and very little for Mr. Bush. Beyond the findings about Mr. Bush's
preparedness, the poll found that the governor's personal popularity has
eroded slightly as Mr. Gore's has continued to improve.
A majority of Americans say they will tune in to the debate. In addition to
seeing where the two candidates stand on the issues, the poll's
respondents say they will be looking to determine whether the nominees
seem ready to handle the responsibilities of being president.
The race is so competitive, the survey found, that the difference in
support between Mr. Gore and Mr. Bush is statistically insignificant. That
said, no matter how the support is defined — whether in terms of voters
who have made up their minds or voters who are only now leaning
toward one candidate but are still undecided — Mr. Gore usually
emerges a few points ahead.
In a four-way contest, Mr. Gore was backed by 45 percent of registered
voters, Mr. Bush by 39 percent, and Patrick J. Buchanan and Ralph
Nader were each below 5 percent. When voters' awareness of the race
and their past voting are taken into account, Mr. Gore draws 45 percent
and Mr. Bush 41 percent. If the possibility of a low turnout is added to
the mix, Mr. Gore's advantage would be even more insignificant: one
percentage point.
The state of the contest is all the more unpredictable because voters do
not seem whole-heartedly loyal to their favored candidate. More than 4
of 10 Bush or Gore supporters said they were not enthusiastic about their
candidate — and have some misgivings about voting for him.
The nationwide telephone survey of 1,131 registered voters was taken
Sept. 27 to Oct. 1. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus
three percentage points. |
