ad info

 
CNN.comTranscripts
 
Editions | myCNN | Video | Audio | Headline News Brief | Feedback  

 

  Search
 
 

 

TOP STORIES

Bush signs order opening 'faith-based' charity office for business

Rescues continue 4 days after devastating India earthquake

DaimlerChrysler employees join rapidly swelling ranks of laid-off U.S. workers

Disney's GO.com is a goner

(MORE)

MARKETS
4:30pm ET, 4/16
144.70
8257.60
3.71
1394.72
10.90
879.91
 


WORLD

U.S.

POLITICS

LAW

TECHNOLOGY

ENTERTAINMENT

 
TRAVEL

ARTS & STYLE



(MORE HEADLINES)
 
CNN Websites
Networks image


Morning News

Gallup Poll: 73 Percent of Registered Voters Paying Close Attention to Presidential Race

Aired October 23, 2000 - 10:31 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: There are only 15 days until the presidential election. The two front-runners are launching a campaign blitz. Al Gore and George W. Bush are trying to visit as many states as possible to win undecided voters. The latest tracking poll by CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup shows Gore needs to regain some ground. It shows Bush favored by 50 percent of likely supporters compared to 41 percent for Gore.

Now let's go ahead and take a closer look at the latest poll results. For that, we turn to Gallup Poll's editor in chief, Frank Newport, joining us from Princeton, New Jersey.

Frank, good morning.

FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR IN CHIEF: Good morning, Daryn. Let's bring you up to date on what we're showing. It's a very, very interesting pattern. First of all, attention being paid to the election. We wanted to point out that Americans are focused. In fact, we took it back in July and only 42 percent of Americans said paying quite a lot of attention. That was, of course, before the conventions, but it's been going up.

And as of this weekend -- look at this -- 73 percent of Americans, registered voters, told us they're paying quite a lot of attention. That's actually higher than at any point in the entire 1996 election. So we're actually generating more interest this year than the Clinton-Dole election did in 1996. Maybe turnout will be a little higher.

Now, here's what we're showing. It's a very fascinating pattern for these debates. Net net Bush gained from the debates, no question about it. I'll show you a little more about that in a moment. Back in the end of September, the race was tied. And after each debate when our tracking poll picked up what was happening, Bush was gaining. After the debate on the 3rd, Bush was ahead. Then, actually, the important point is the race tied up again. But then at the second debate, Bush moved out ahead again. There was some closing of the race. And now after the third debate over the weekend, we had, as you mentioned, Daryn, Bush back out ahead of Gore.

But if the same pattern holds that we saw after each of the other debates, the race will now tighten up again. And the real question is: There are no more debates; what's going to happen over the last two weeks of the campaign?

Just to net it out for you, here's, believe it or not, 7,700 interviews that we conducted from Labor Day up to the first debate. Gore, on average, was ahead by about 3 points. Over 4,000 interviews we've conducted since that first debate which was held in Boston, the net net was that Bush was ahead of Gore. So when you contrast these two large, large samples of people, you see that the effect of the debates, instead of helping Gore, as some have anticipated, was to help Bush. But there are no debates so now we're going to see what's going to happen.

As of our last tracking, Bush had energized his base. That's happened after each debate. And 94 percent of Republicans say they're voting for Bush, contrasted with a little lower, 87 percent, of Democrats voting for Gore. Independents breaking for Bush right now. That can change. This is that volatile group we'll be monitoring here. And we can show you in terms of attention paid to the race, Republicans a little more attentive: 81 percent paying quite a lot of attention; Independents a little more tuned out; Democrats a little less than Republicans.

But all in all, it's a fascinating time period right now in the so-called endgame. And we will be watching. Let's see what happens.

Daryn, back to you.

KAGAN: Thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

 Search   


Back to the top  © 2001 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.