The way they described on MSNBC I believe was pretty clear. The question was asked of the people (who already showed up to vote) who they would vote for if they could chose only Bush or Gore. The result was exactly 50/50.
Joe,
I will try to dig up the article that explains the exit poll comments. When you first read it, it sounds like MSNBC's comments are correct....but when you look further, its not true that 50% would vote for Bush. Think about it.........it does not make sense. These people are liberal liberals....do you think they would vote for Bush if they didn't vote for Nader?!! I don't think so.
Let me try to find the story that I read this AM.
ted
Edit. I couldn't find the original article I read that provided a clear break out on the FLA exit polls but this will have to do. In this one it says a third would not have voted.
Nader Revels in Role for Green Party Movement
By EUN-KYUNG KIM
.c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (Nov. 7) - Ralph Nader fell short of his Election Day goal but relished his role as spoiler, declaring his Green Party bid had transformed into a ``long-term, progressive reform movement'' that would monitor the Democrats and Republicans for years to come.
Nader fell short of the 5 percent of the national vote needed to win federal campaign funds for his Green Party in the 2004 election. With 99 percent of the votes counted, he was drawing about 3 percent.
Nader said he was far from disappointed and that his populist movement would grow.
``The Green Party is alive and well,'' he declared Wednesday during a news conference, saying the campaign had established the party as ``a viable political force.''
Nader acknowledged that he would have liked to reach the 5 percent threshold, but said he viewed the federal matching funds ``more as a convenience than as a necessity.''
Defiant to the end, the longtime consumer advocate finished his bid for the White House the way he started, pushing for every vote and brushing off complaints by Democrats that he drew votes away from Al Gore.
``This was probably the most impudent assertion of our campaign,'' he said.
``Gore had all the advantages of an incumbent administration, but he never generated enthusiasm, and many voters cast votes for him out of the least-worst attitude, not out of conviction.''
An evening earlier, Nader awaited returns among a standing-room crowd in the ballroom of the National Press Club. He addressed the gathering after quelling their chants of ``Go, Ralph, Go!'' Standing beside him were his two sisters, a niece and his mother, Rose Nader, who blew the group a kiss.
Nader kept up his appeals for supporters to ``vote their conscience,'' insisting the vice president had to earn his votes like everyone else. In states with close races between Gore and Republican George W. Bush, Nader appeared to be a significant factor.
Exit polls in states including Colorado, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oregon, Washington state and Wisconsin suggested that at least half the Nader voters would have voted for Gore if it had been a two-way race. In many of those states, it was enough to throw the state to Bush. But nearly one in three said they simply would not have voted at all.
Voters were interviewed as they left the polls by Voter News Service, a consortium of The Associated Press and the television networks.
Fearing Nader's popularity would cost Gore the election, Democrats tried convincing Nader supporters that ``a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush.''
John Gehan of St. Paul, Minn., didn't buy that argument, and he challenged anyone to call his vote for Nader a mistake.
``Those sort of attacks on him and me solidified my vote for Nader,'' said Gehan, 51. ``If Gore loses, it's because Gore is a lousy candidate, not because I voted for Nader.''
He said Nader presented the only choice for progressive Democrats.
Nader's perceived role as a potential spoiler also put him under pressure from longtime friends and allies once closely aligned with his progressive views.
But he remained defiant and unapologetic, urging people to support a ``viable third party'' that would serve as a watchdog for Republicans and Democrats long after Election Day.
``I did not run for president to help elect one or the other of the two major candidates,'' Nader said earlier Tuesday during a news conference in front of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.
Nader's long-shot campaign emphasized his criticism of big business and the two-party political system. He has long insisted that no major differences exist between the Democrats and the Republicans - or their presidential candidates.
``The two parties have morphed into a corporate party representing the same business interests at the same dinners, at the same hotels, day after day after day,'' he said.
Nader felt his candidacy was badly hurt by his exclusion from the presidential debates. Sponsors required 15 percent support in national polls. Yet, he campaigned aggressively, holding rock concert-like rallies that attracted thousands of people - paying an average of $10 apiece - in Boston, Chicago, New York, Seattle, Washington and other cities.
Nader is best known as the consumer advocate who in the 1960s took on the automobile industry's safety standards. Since then, he has pushed for automatic seat belts and other safety devices in cars and for passage of federal legislation to improve the air, food, water and the environment. |
