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Politics : Why is Gore Trying to Steal the Presidency? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ben Wa who wrote (657)	11/16/2000 12:50:49 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3887

Public opposes Fla. hand counts By Larry Lipman, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Thursday, November 16, 2000 WASHINGTON -- The American public is overwhelmingly against letting hand recounts in Palm Beach and three other Florida counties determine who will be the next president, according to a massive Internet poll completed late Tuesday. The poll by Harris Interactive -- formerly Louis Harris & Associates -- found a sharp split between Democrats and Republicans on a wide range of post-election issues. And it found that Palm Beach County voters' perceptions differed substantially from the rest of the country. Roughly four out of 10 voters approved of the way Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush have handled the situation since the election. But 40 percent did not approve of the way Bush has handled it and 49 percent did not approve of Gore's handling. Nationally, there was little public support for the Gore campaign's strategy of seeking hand recounts in four heavily Democratic Florida counties: Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Volusia. "There was no support at all for simply counting four counties in Florida and letting that recount be the basis for deciding who wins Florida and, in fact, the presidency," said Gordon Black, Harris Interactive's chairman and chief executive officer. Only 6 percent of those surveyed supported a hand count in the four counties. Roughly three in 10 would hand count the entire state while four in 10 oppose any hand counting. The public also opposes allowing a revote in Palm Beach or other Florida counties to determine the outcome. "There was more support for an entire new election than a revote in four counties," Black said. Six out of 10 voters do not want any revote, while 16 percent would support a revote in Palm Beach County and another 16 percent would support a Florida-wide revote. Nationally, by a margin of 47 to 34, voters would prefer a revote nationwide rather than only in Palm Beach County. The Harris poll used the Internet to survey more than 117,000 voters from Saturday to Tuesday evening, and another 6,600 just since Sunday. It included 7,841 Florida voters and 511 Palm Beach County voters. Nationwide results are considered accurate within plus or minus 2 percentage points; Palm Beach County results were within 4 points. A similar Harris Internet poll _ weighted to account for differences between Internet and non-Internet users -- accurately predicted the day before the election that Gore would win the popular vote by less than 1 percent. Nationwide, just over half of the voters -- 52 percent -- believe that Bush should be the next president, based on what they know about the election, and that he will be if the votes are accurately and honestly counted in Florida. Among Palm Beach County voters, 52 percent believe Gore should win. Palm Beach County voters differed from the nation in their perception of the election. While 1 percent of voters nationwide and 2 percent in Florida are not sure if they voted for the candidate they wanted, 16 percent of Palm Beach County voters were unsure. Nationwide, 40 percent of voters blame Palm Beach County voters exclusively for their uncertainty, while 20 percent say the blame falls on election officials for their construction of the ballot and 38 percent say the blame was shared. Palm Beach County voters, however, were twice as likely -- 40 percent -- to blame local election officials. About a fourth of county voters said local voters were responsible for the confusion and a third said the blame was shared. The Internet poll showed voters a portion of the butterfly ballot and found that more than half -- 52 percent -- of voters found it at least somewhat confusing. Republicans were far less likely to find the ballot confusing. Roughly eight out of 10 Republicans said the ballot was "not at all" confusing compared with about one in five Democrats. gopbi.com