Harwich – Nov. 8, 2000 –
The gender gap, which has been reported across the nat= ion this election season, was very much in evidence. Men voted for Bush over Gore 48% t= o 34%, while women supported Gore over Bush 46% to 42%. This appears to be caused by some = basic differences in how men and women vote on the issues. For example, men were more likely = to support the tax cut ballot questions than women. On question 6, giving tax credits = for tolls and excise taxes, men voted in favor of the question 60% to 40%, while women voted against it, 55% to 45%. This seems to reflect the stands of the presidential candidates on t= he issue.
Interestingly, this gender gap was less prominent in t= he U.S. Senate race and nonexistent in the U.S. Representative and State Senate races. However, men were more likely to vote for third party candidates – twice as many men support= ed Carla Howell, and 50% more men supported Nadar.
Independents are always the swing vote in this state, =
where
they outnumber Republicans and Democrats.&=
nbsp;
In our poll Independents leaned toward Bush, 41% to 33%. This happened in spite of the fact=
that
most independents approve of the job
Younger voters (18-39) also were in favor of the drug =
law
questions. They were most lik=
ely to
vote for Nadar, and to approve of the job Presi=
dent
Clinton has done. Older voters
(60+) were most likely to disapprove of
When asked what issue mattered most to them, character=
and
integrity was cited most often – by 41% of those polled. In what may have been a key to the
election, these voters, voted 60% to 27% for Bush over
Nadar received significant support, especially for young voters, and the drug issues may have been the basis for a lot of this support. On question 10, 95% of voters who supported Nadar = voted in favor of legalizing the medicinal use of marijuana.
-Mr. John Dickson, Government Teacher,