WH2000: Post-Election Polls, November

[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Post-Election 2 ] [ Post-Election 3 ]

White House 2000: Post-Election Polls
The Long Count: November Polls Recount polls from December

Polls listed chronologically.

Subscribers, see also: What Florida thinks of The Long Count

*CBS News/New York Times* Poll**. Nov. 27-28, 2000. N=1,012 adults nationwide. MoE ą 3 (total sample).
						.
"It is possible in our election system for one presidential candidate to receive the most state ELECTORAL votes, while another candidate receives the most POPULAR votes nationwide. In this case, who do you think has a MORE legitimate claim to the presidency: the electoral vote winner or the popular vote winner, or does neither have a legitimate claim?"
		ALL	Gore Voters	Bush Voters	Non- Voters
		%	%	%	%
	Electoral vote winner	40	27	67	28
	Popular vote winner	43	59	21	48
	Neither	10	8	8	12
	Don't know	7	6	4	12
						.
"As of now, which candidate has received more votes nationwide and is leading in the popular vote: George W. Bush, or Al Gore?"
		ALL	Gore Voters	Bush Voters	Non- Voters
		%	%	%	%
	Bush	24	14	26	30
	Gore	64	81	64	47
	Don't know	12	5	10	23
						.
"Do you approve or disapprove of the way the Bush campaign is handling the uncertain outcome of the presidential election?"
		ALL	Gore Voters	Bush Voters	Non- Voters
		%	%	%	%
	Approve	50	26	81	43
	Disapprove	41	66	15	40
	Don't know	9	8	4	17
						.
"Do you approve or disapprove of the way the Gore campaign is handling the uncertain outcome of the presidential election?"
		ALL	Gore Voters	Bush Voters	Non- Voters
		%	%	%	%
	Approve	38	70	7	35
	Disapprove	54	21	91	53
	Don't know	8	9	2	12
						.
"If Al Gore eventually becomes president in January, given all that has happened, do you think he could lead the country effectively, or not?"
		ALL	Gore Voters	Bush Voters	Non- Voters
		%	%	%	%
	Could	60	82	36	60
	Could not	33	14	55	31
	Don't know	7	4	9	9
						.
"If George W. Bush eventually becomes president in January, given all that has happened, do you think he could lead the country effectively, or not?"
		ALL	Gore Voters	Bush Voters	Non- Voters
		%	%	%	%
	Could	65	39	93	64
	Could not	26	52	2	23
	Don't know	9	9	5	13
						.
"If Al Gore eventually becomes president in January, would you say he legitimately won the election, or not?"
		ALL	Gore Voters	Bush Voters	Non- Voters
		%	%	%	%
	Legitimately won	50	78	22	49
	Did not	39	12	70	37
	Don't know	11	10	8	14
						.
"If George W. Bush eventually becomes president in January, would you say he legitimately won the election, or not?"
		ALL	Gore Voters	Bush Voters	Non- Voters
		%	%	%	%
	Legitimately won	65	41	94	59
	Did not	27	50	2	29
	Don't know	8	9	4	12
						.
"Do you think either of the presidential campaigns is placing politics above the good of the country?" If "Yes": "Which campaign is doing that: the Bush campaign or the Gore campaign?"
		ALL	Gore Voters	Bush Voters	Non- Voters
		%	%	%	%
	Yes -- Bush campaign	17	32	4	16
	Yes -- Gore campaign	26	8	54	17
	Yes -- Both equally (vol.)	31	32	24	33
	No, neither	16	17	13	20
	Don't know	10	11	5	14
						.
"When do you think the outcome of the election will finally be resolved: by the end of this week, within the next few weeks, or will it take longer than that?"
		%
	End of this week	13
	Within the next few weeks	39
	Longer than that	39
	Already has (vol.)	1
	Don't know	8
						.
"Once the election is finally settled, do you think we will have gotten a fair and accurate vote count in Florida, or not?"
		ALL	Gore Voters	Bush Voters	Non- Voters
		%	%	%	%
	Yes, fair and accurate	38	27	56	33
	No, not	47	56	32	52
	Don't know	15	17	12	15
						.
"Regardless of what the current vote total is, who do you think more voters in Florida INTENDED to vote for: Al Gore or George W. Bush?"
		ALL	Gore Voters	Bush Voters	Non- Voters
		%	%	%	%
	Gore	40	75	8	37
	Bush	35	11	62	36
	Don't know	25	14	30	27
						.
"Based on what you know so far, do you think one of the candidates should concede now or is it too soon for that?" If "Should concede": "Who do you think should concede: Al Gore or George W. Bush?"
		ALL	Gore Voters	Bush Voters	Non- Voters
		%	%	%	%
	Yes -- Gore should	42	13	83	31
	Yes -- Bush should	3	5	1	4
	No, too soon	48	77	12	54
	Don't know	7	5	4	11
						.
"The Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris has now certified the results of the election in Florida, and declared George W. Bush the winner. Do you think the results that were certified are a fair and accurate count of how the majority of Florida voters cast their ballots, or not?"
		ALL	Gore Voters	Bush Voters	Non- Voters
		%	%	%	%
	Fair and accurate	47	14	89	43
	Not fair and accurate	47	83	8	48
	Don't know	6	3	3	9
						.
"The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal from the Bush campaign regarding the counting of ballots in Florida. Do you think it is a good idea or a bad idea for the U.S. Supreme Court to get involved in the election?"
		ALL	Gore Voters	Bush Voters	Non- Voters
		%	%	%	%
	Good idea	54	61	48	54
	Bad idea	39	34	45	36
	Don't know	7	5	7	10
						.
"George W. Bush said he is confident he will be president so he has begun to select officials for his administration. Do you think he is right in starting to form his administration before the court cases surrounding the election are resolved, or should he wait until the court cases are decided?"
		ALL	Gore Voters	Bush Voters	Non- Voters
		%	%	%	%
	Right to start	50	33	78	41
	Should wait	47	64	20	57
	Don't know	3	3	2	2

NBC News Poll conducted by the polling organizations of Peter Hart (D) and Robert Teeter (R). Nov. 27, 2000. N=490 adults nationwide. MoE ą 4.5.
				.
"Who do you think should be declared the winner of the presidential election in Florida? Do you think George W. Bush should be declared the winner, do you think Al Gore should be declared the winner, or do you think it is too soon to say?"
		%
	Bush	50
	Gore	16
	Too soon to say	31
	Not sure	3
				.
"Do you think that George W. Bush was right to claim victory and set up a transition operation, or do you think that he should have waited until the legal challenges in the courts had been decided?"
		%
	Was right to claim victory	44
	Should have waited	51
	Not sure	5
				.
"Which of these two statements comes closer to your point of view? "Statement A: Now that the vote in Florida has been certified, Al Gore should concede and stop all court actions. "Statement B: Al Gore should not concede yet and should continue to await the results from the cases filed in the courts."
		%
	Gore should concede	49
	Gore should not concede	49
	Not sure	2
				.
"Do you think that the Florida secretary of state's decision to certify George W. Bush as the winner in Florida was based on a fair and unbiased process, or do you think that it was based on an unfair and biased process?"
		%
	Fair and unbiased	49
	Unfair and biased	44
	Some of both (vol.)	4
	Not sure	3
				.
"Regardless of who wins the presidential election and with the results being so close, please tell me which one of these two statements comes closer to your point of view: "Statement A: The country will be able to unite behind the winner, who will go on to accomplish a lot in the next four years. "Statement B: The country will remain divided, and it will be hard for the winner to accomplish a lot over the next four years."
		%
	Will be able to unite	38
	Will remain divided	54
	Not sure	8
				.
"The United States Supreme Court is hearing arguments this Friday on issues related to the Florida recount. As you may know, Supreme Court justices are appointed by the president. Are you confident that the Supreme Court can make a fair and nonpartisan decision, or not?"
			%
	Confident can make a fair and nonpartisan decision		73
	Not confident		19
	Not sure		8

*CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll*. Latest: Nov. 26-27, 2000. N=881 adults nationwide. MoE ą 4 for the total sample, ą 6 for Gore supporters and for Bush supporters.
					.
"Which comes closer to your view: [rotate] you are willing to wait at least a little while longer for a final resolution to the presidential election situation, OR, the presidential election situation has gone on too long already?"
		ALL	Gore Sup- porters	Bush Sup- porters
		%	%	%
	Willing to wait	37	67	9
	Gone on too long already	62	32	90
	No opinion	1	1	1
					.
"Would you say that you strongly approve, approve, disapprove, or strongly disapprove of the way each of the following has handled the situation surrounding the results of the election for president? . . ."
		ALL	Gore Sup- porters	Bush Sup- porters
		%	%	%
	George W. Bush and his campaign advisors
	Strongly approve	11	1	25
	Approve	43	25	61
	Disapprove	32	52	11
	Strongly disapprove	9	19	1
	No opinion	5	3	2
					.
	Al Gore and his campaign advisors
	Strongly approve	9	20	-
	Approve	33	59	9
	Disapprove	35	17	49
	Strongly disapprove	19	3	40
	No opinion	4	1	2
					.
	The news media
	Strongly approve	5	6	5
	Approve	43	55	30
	Disapprove	35	28	43
	Strongly disapprove	13	9	18
	No opinion	4	2	4
					.
	Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris
	Strongly approve	12	1	26
	Approve	37	21	53
	Disapprove	27	44	11
	Strongly disapprove	13	25	3
	No opinion	11	9	7
					.
"Which of these statements do you think best describes the situation that has occurred since the election for president? [Rotate] It is a constitutional crisis. It is a major problem for the country, but is not a crisis. It is a minor problem for the country. OR, It is not a problem for the country at all."
		11/26-27	11/19
		%	%
	Constitutional crisis	10	10
	Major problem, not a crisis	50	44
	Minor problem	29	32
	Not a problem at all	9	12
	No opinion	2	2
					.
"As you may know, the Florida secretary of state tonight/last night declared George W. Bush the winner of the presidential election in Florida, with 537 more votes than Al Gore. Several court cases concerning the Florida vote recount, including a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court, are still under way. As of today, do you think Al Gore should concede the election, or should he not concede?"
		ALL	Gore Sup- porters	Bush Sup- porters
		%	%	%
	Should concede	56	36	81
	Should not concede	38	59	16
	No opinion	6	5	3
					.
"As you may know, Palm Beach County was not able to submit all of its ballots by the 5:00 pm deadline on Sunday, and had to submit a partial count. What do you think the Florida secretary of state should have done: [rotate] give Palm Beach County more time to complete its recount, or stick to the 5:00 pm deadline for all counties?"
		ALL	Gore Sup- porters	Bush Sup- porters
		%	%	%
	Give more time	44	80	8
	Stick to deadline	54	18	91
	No opinion	2	2	1
					.
"Thinking about the media's coverage of the Florida recount, do you think the media have been [rotate] biased in favor of Al Gore or biased in favor of George W. Bush, or has it not been biased toward either candidate?"
		ALL	Gore Sup- porters	Bush Sup- porters
		%	%	%
	Biased in favor of Gore	23	6	45
	Biased in favor of Bush	10	18	4
	Not biased toward either	63	74	48
	No opinion	4	2	3

*ABC News/Washington* Post Poll**. Nov. 26, 2000. N=607 adults nationwide. MoE ą 4. Field work by TNS Intersearch.
			.
"Tonight the Secretary of State in Florida declared George W. Bush as the winner of the election there. Al Gore says the votes were not counted fairly. Do you think Gore should concede the election and let Bush become president, or ask the courts to decide whether the vote count in Florida was fair?"
		%
	Gore should concede	60
	Ask courts to decide	35
	No opinion	6
			.
"Earlier today officials in Palm Beach County asked for an extension until 9 a.m. tomorrow to finish their hand count of the votes there. The Florida secretary of state denied the request and said she would not accept any of the hand count in Palm Beach since it wasn't completed by the deadline of 5 p.m today. Do you think she did the right thing by keeping the 5 p.m. deadline or do you think she should have allowed the extension to 9 a.m. tomorrow?"
		%
	Did the right thing	56
	Should have allowed extension	42
	No opinion	2

CBS News Poll. Nov. 19, 2000. N=822 adults nationwide (MoE ą 3), including 684 registered voters (MoE ą 4).
				.
Asked of registered voters: "Regardless of whom you supported for president, given all that has happened since the election, who would you rather see become president: George W. Bush or Al Gore?"
		%
	Bush	48
	Gore	46
	Neither (vol.)	2
	Don't know	4
				.
"Do you approve or disapprove of the way the Bush campaign is handling the uncertain outcome of the presidential election? ... Do you approve or disapprove of the way the Gore campaign is handling the uncertain outcome of the presidential election?"
		Bush Campaign	Gore Campaign
		%	%
	Approve	45	40
	Disapprove	43	50
	Don't know	12	10
				.
"Do you approve or disapprove of the way Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris is handling her job overseeing the vote count in Florida?"
		%
	Approve	45
	Disapprove	42
	Don't know	13
				.
"When do you think the outcome of the Florida election will finally be resolved: by the end of this week, within the next few weeks, or will it take longer than that?"
		%
	By the end of this week	25
	Within a few weeks	36
	Longer than that	30
	Don't know	9
				.
"Have you lost patience with the fact that the election hasn't been resolved yet, or are you willing to wait longer for a resolution?"
		%
	Lost patience	45
	Willing to wait	50
	Depends (vol.)	2
	Don't know	3
				.
"Once the election is finally settled, do you think we will have gotten a fair and accurate vote count in Florida, or not?"
		%
	Yes, fair and accurate	41
	Not fair and accurate	43
	Don't know	16
				.
"Regardless of what the current vote total is, who do you think more voters in Florida INTENDED to vote for, Al Gore or George W. Bush?"
		%
	Gore	41
	Bush	41
	Don't know	18
				.
"Do you think the continuing controversy over the election in Florida is a big problem for this country, or do you think it is not really a problem?"
		%
	Big problem	66
	Not really a problem	31
	Don't know	3
				.
"Do you think the results of hand counts taking place in several counties in Florida should be included in the official vote count, or not?"
		%
	Should be included	59
	Should not be included	36
	Don't know	5
				.
"Would you favor or oppose setting a uniform poll closing time on election night, so that all polling places across the country close at the same time?"
		%
	Favor	71
	Oppose	23
	Don't know	6

Newsweek Poll conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates. Latest: Nov. 16-17, 2000. N=1,000 adults nationwide. MoE ą 4 for the total sample, ą 6 for Gore supporters and ą 5 for Bush supporters.
				.
"As you probably know, the outcome of the presidential election depends on whether George W. Bush or Al Gore is awarded the state of Florida. Right now, which ONE of the following do you think is more important? Getting matters resolved as soon as possible so we know who our next president is. Making certain to remove all reasonable doubt that the vote count has been fair and accurate."
		11/16-17	11/9-11
		%	%
	Resolve as soon as possible	36	25
	Remove all reasonable doubt	61	72
	Don't know	3	3
				.
"Do you see the uncertainty about the vote in Florida and the delay in knowing who won the presidency as a sign of weakness in our political system OR as a sign of strength that we are peacefully taking the steps necessary to make sure the right candidate is declared the winner of a very close election?"
		%
	A sign of weakness	37
	A sign of strength	52
	Don't know	11
				.
"In general, do you think counting punc