Poll: Fewer support Gore challenge
By CNN Polling Director Keating Holland
November 27, 2000
Web posted at: 11:07 p.m. EST (0407 GMT)
Six in ten Americans now think the battle over the presidential election has gone on too long and a majority of Americans interviewed before Al Gore's prime-time speech on Monday said that he should concede the election, according to a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll.
Nonetheless, most Americans say that they would be able to accept either Bush or Gore as the legitimate president -- although, in a sign of growing partisan tensions, a majority of Bush supporters now say that they would not accept a Gore administration as legitimate.
The stakes were high for Gore's Monday night speech, since he had been losing support in interviews conducted before his televised address.
Last week, 46 percent said they thought Gore should concede, but Sunday and Monday, before Gore's speech, that figure had risen to 56 percent -- including 36 percent of those who described themselves as Gore supporters.
Pre-speech interviews give another indication of a drop in Gore's support: Two weeks ago, a majority of Americans said they approved of how Gore's campaign was handling the Florida recount. Last week, that number dipped slightly, and in interviews conducted just before Gore's speech, only 42 percent said they approved of Gore's handling of the current situation.
The number of Americans who approve of how Bush has handled the situation has remained steady, hovering just above the 50 percent mark. In that same time, the number who say they are willing to wait at least a little while longer for a final outcome to the presidential election has dropped from 51 percent to 37 percent.
Only one in 10 say that this is currently a constitutional crisis, and more than six in 10 say that the electoral overtime has not done permanent harm to the country.
The poll was conducted from interviews with 881 adult Americans conducted November 26-27, 2000. All interviews were conducted after the Florida secretary of state officially certified the results and declared Bush the winner and before Gore's nationally televised speech on Monday.
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