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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: kvkkc1 who wrote (41032)	9/30/2000 12:38:33 PM
From: Mr. Whist	Respond to of 769667

Poll: Bush gains but Gore still leads in Michigan By John Flesher The Associated Press September 30, 2000 10:22 a.m. CDT Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore still leads GOP candidate George W. Bush in Michigan, but the presidential race has tightened in the industrial state crucial to both sides, according to a new poll. Gore led Bush 45 percent to 39 percent in the survey last Tuesday through Thursday of 600 likely Michigan voters conducted by EPIC/MRA of Lansing for the Detroit Free Press and released Saturday. A poll by the same polling firm two weeks ago showed Gore ahead by 9 points. Green Party candidate Ralph Nader got 3 percent in the latest poll, with 13 percent of those surveyed saying they were undecided. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. The results come as other polls show Bush gaining ground nationally. Bush campaign spokesman Bob Hopkins called the Michigan race "dead even." "Governor Bush has been surging as he discusses his blueprint for the middle class while Gore is fending off questions about his truthfulness," Hopkins said. Chad Clanton, spokesman for the state Democratic Coordinated Campaign, acknowledged the Michigan race would be "competitive until the end." "Al Gore is doing well because people want a president who will stand up for working families, not for the powerful and big corporations," Clanton said. Craig Ruff, president of Public Sector Consultants in Lansing, said he was "dubious" about the findings because they show Michigan out of step with the rest of the nation, where the race appears neck-and-neck. Michigan usually closely mirrors the national polls. "It's conceivable in Michigan that we have a ... deadlocked race" given the fact that the latest Gore-Bush numbers are just over the margin of error, he said. Ed Sarpolus, president of EPIC/MRA, said the race had become essentially "nonpartisan" as both sides target undecided voters who are mostly independents. The latest survey indicates a gender gap, with men evenly divided but women preferring Gore 47 percent to 35 percent for Bush. Gore's strongest area was Detroit, where he enjoyed a nearly 3-to-1 lead. He also did well in Wayne and Oakland counties. Bush led by small margins in Macomb County and western Michigan and was well ahead in the north. The central section of the Lower Peninsula was deadlocked. Gore had better than 70 percent support among union households, a key constituency for the vice president. Bush, governor of Texas, led among non-union households, 48 percent to 37 percent. Protestants and whites were evenly divided, while Gore led among Catholics by 52 percent to 31 percent and among blacks by 67 percent to 15 percent. Asked what issue they considered most important, about one-third of those polled chose health care. Fifteen percent chose reducing taxes and controlling spending, while education and morality both were named by 13 percent. Two-thirds of those who picked health care favored Gore, while Bush led by the same margin among those most interested in taxes and spending. The poll showed 37 percent favoring and 41 percent opposing Proposal 1, the ballot proposal that would provide vouchers for children in failing schools. Twenty-two percent said they were undecided. Because the numbers are within the margin of error of 4 percentage points, the race is considered a tossup. In a poll conducted Sept. 19-24 by Marketing Resource Group of Lansing for the "Inside Michigan Politics" newsletter, 45 percent of those polled supported vouchers and 35 percent opposed them. The survey of 500 likely voters had an error margin of plus or minus 5 percentage points.