New Knight Ridder/MSNBC Poll Results Reveal that Bush Leads in Five Key Swing States
September 18 2004 - 11:18PM
PR Newswire (US)
New Knight Ridder/MSNBC Poll Results Reveal that Bush Leads in Five
Key Swing States Plurality of Voters in States That Voted for Bush
in 2000 - Missouri, Arizona, New Hampshire, Ohio, West Virginia -
Approve of His Overall Job as President SAN JOSE, Calif., and
SECAUCUS, N.J., Sept. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- A series of new surveys,
conducted for MSNBC and Knight Ridder by Mason-Dixon, has found
that President Bush is leading in five of the key swing states he
carried in 2000 - Missouri, Arizona, New Hampshire, Ohio and West
Virginia. The state in which Bush had the narrowest lead in the
poll was West Virginia, where the president led John Kerry by 1
point. A second wave of poll results from states that voted for Al
Gore in 2000 -- Iowa, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, New Mexico,
Minnesota -- will be announced on Monday night, Sept. 20th. The
following table contains the poll's top-line findings: VOTER
PREFERENCE KERRY/EDWARDS BUSH/CHENEY NADER/CAMEJO OTHER UND MO 41%
48% 1% 1% 9% AZ 39% 50% 3% 8% NH 40% 49% 3% - 8% OH 42% 49% 2% - 7%
WV 44% 45% - - 11% BUSH APPROVAL Approve Disapprove Undecided MO
52% 42% 6% AZ 53% 39% 8% NH 54% 40% 6% OH 51% 42% 7% WV 48% 44% 8%
The MSNBC/Knight Ridder poll found that more than 50 percent of
voters approve of Bush's overall job as president in Arizona, New
Hampshire, Missouri, and Ohio. In West Virginia, a plurality (48%),
approve of the president's overall job. In four of the five states
polled, more voters believe that the country is on the right track
than believe it's on the wrong track. The sentiment is most
positive in Missouri, New Hampshire and Ohio, where 48 percent, 49
percent, and 47 percent of respondents respectively think the
country is on the right track. The Knight Ridder/MSNBC poll also
allowed respondents to weigh in on a number of hot topics this
election year: military service during in the Vietnam War, a ban on
gay marriage and the decision to go to war in Iraq. * A solid
majority said they weren't concerned about how each candidate
served during the Vietnam War - nearly 80 percent of voters in each
state say it will not influence their vote. * A clear majority of
voters in all states surveyed said they favor the ban on gay
marriage. Respondents in Missouri (which already voted to ban gay
marriage) feel the strongest of the five states, with 55 percent of
respondents saying they "strongly favor" the ban. * A narrow
majority of voters in four states, Arizona, Missouri, New Hampshire
and Ohio, approve of President Bush's decision to go to war in
Iraq. Missouri voters most strongly agree with the war, with 55
percent of voters approving of the decision. Voters in West
Virginia disapprove by a margin of 49-47. The results of the polls
will be published in Knight Ridder newspapers, aired on MSNBC and
NBC News programs and will be available on MSNBC.com and Knight
Ridder Web sites, including http://www.krwashington.com/. Knight
Ridder newspapers include The Miami Herald, The Philadelphia
Inquirer, Detroit Free Press, St. Paul Pioneer Press, The Charlotte
Observer, The Kansas City Star, Akron Beacon Journal, Fort Worth
Star-Telegram and San Jose Mercury News. Survey Methodology The
results are the first of three series of swing state polls to be
conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research. These polls
measure voter favorability and voter preference for top
presidential candidates who appear on the 2004 general election
state ballot in the key swing states that voted for President Bush
in the 2000 election. The polls included questions aimed at
exploring the issues that may determine how undecided voters make
up their minds. States included in the poll are Arizona, Michigan,
Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio and West Virginia. A seventh swing
state, Florida, could not be accurately surveyed this week because
of hurricanes. The poll was conducted between Sept. 14 and Sept.
16, 2004. The margin of error is +/-4 percent. About Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder is the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher,
with products in print and online. The company publishes 31 daily
newspapers in 28 U.S. markets, with a readership of 8.7 million
daily and 12.6 million Sunday. Knight Ridder also has investments
in a variety of Internet and technology companies and two newsprint
companies. The company's Internet operation, Knight Ridder Digital,
develops and manages the company's online properties. It is the
founder and operator of Real Cities (http://www.realcities.com/),
the largest national network of city and regional Web sites in more
than 100 U.S. markets. Knight Ridder and Knight Ridder Digital are
headquartered in San Jose, California. About MSNBC MSNBC is a joint
venture between NBC Universal, a leading provider of news and
information, and Microsoft, the leader in personal computer
software and a major provider of Internet online services. Built on
the worldwide resources of NBC News, MSNBC is a 24-hour cable news
network and Internet news service at http://msnbc.com/. About
Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Inc. Mason-Dixon is an
independent polling firm that conducts voter surveys for news
media, advocacy groups, trade associations and political action
committees. Mason-Dixon is the nation's most active state polling
organization, conducting copyrighted public opinion polls for news
media organizations in all 50 states. These media clients include
over 250 local television affiliates and over 100 daily newspapers.
Since 1983, Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Inc. has conducted
surveys in every state in the country, on almost every public
issue, and tracked every major election and referendum. DATASOURCE:
Knight Ridder CONTACT: Jennifer Keenan +1-201-926-6429, , for
Knight Ridder; or Jeremy Gaines of MSNBC, +1-201-583-5362, Web
site: http://www.knightridder.com/ http://msnbc.com/
http://www.krwashington.com/
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