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To: Frederick Langford who wrote (97423)	5/12/2000 2:44:00 PM
From: puborectalis	Respond to of 120523

Gore Hurt By Voter Concerns Over State of Nation, Poll Says By Holly Rosenkrantz Washington, May 11 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. voters are increasingly concerned over where the nation is headed and that appears to be hurting Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore, according to a new poll. The Voter.com-Battleground poll, conducted May 1-3 by Democratic and Republican pollsters, shows Bush leading the vice president by a margin of 48 percent to 42 percent. The group's previous survey, conducted March 12-13, had the Texas governor leading Gore 48 percent to 44 percent. The survey of 1,000 likely voters nationwide had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points. The slippage comes as voters show increasing concern over the state of the nation -- and blame the Democrats, the poll found. ``Successive incidents of gun violence, yet another round of talks about congressional investigations, and tremors in the stock market have left voters less optimistic about the course of the country,'' said Democratic pollster Celinda Lake, who conducted the survey with Republican Ed Goeas. ``Voter's ambivalence could spell trouble for Democrats as November grows closer.'' The poll found that 49 percent of those surveyed see the nation on the ``wrong track,'' compared to 43 percent in the previous poll and 40 percent in the group's January survey. Similarly, the percentage of people who feel the country is headed in the ``right direction'' has fallen: 39 percent of those surveyed said yes, compared to 44 percent in March and 49 percent in January. Women Voters This growing concern appears to have hurt Gore's standing among women voters, a group that could swing the outcome of the presidential election, the survey found. The candidates are in a statistical dead heat among working women; Gore led this group by 7 percentage points in March. At the same time, homemakers are consolidating behind Bush: He leads with this group 70 percent to 26 percent, compared to a 62-31 margin in March. Gore leads among some segments of the women's vote: He has a 56-35 edge among unmarried women, and a 61- 26 point lead with a women of racial minorities. Among women voters overall, Bush leads Gore by a margin of 47-44 percent; in March, he trailed by 4 percentage points. Bush leads among male voters by 10 points, compared to a 12-point lead with this group in the March survey. ``The gender gap has been neutralized by Bush,'' Goeas said. ``When there are concerns about the outlook of the country, women tend to seek a change. His message of personal accountability seems to be playing very well with women.'' Core Constituencies Gore still leads among his party's core voting blocs, including African-Americans and union families, although this support appears to have softened. This slippage is linked to positions he's taken that are at odds with his core constituency: Goeas said Gore's split with the administration on the Elian Gonzalez case ``left many in his party scratching their head in puzzlement rather than nodding their heads in agreement.'' The issue of greatest concern to voters was moral values, followed by education, Social Security and health care. Only 3 percent of those surveyed said they were most concerned about the economy, compared to 18 percent who picked ``restoring moral values.'' On the question of congressional races, neither party has an edge. Forty-one percent of the voters surveyed picked Democrats, and 41 percent picked Republicans. Republicans were picked as the better party in Congress for fighting crime and drugs and holding the line on taxes, while Democrats got more credit for strengthening Social Security and improving the health care system. Republicans now hold a razor-thin six-vote majority in the 435-seat House of Representatives.