CNN Exit Polls: Corruption, National Issues Dominating Election
Is corruption in Washington, D.C., the dominant issue driving voters at the polls today? That's what CNN's exit polls are showing, according to Wolf Blitzer and Bill Scheider, who are chatting about their exit numbers on TV as we speak. Scheider just said that 42% of voters cited "corruption in Washington" as the issue which is "extremely important" to them. If true, this would obviously bode ill for the GOP, given the string of GOP officials facing investigation or indictment and given the fact that the GOP runs the place.
Other issues right up there with corruption, according to CNN's exits: terrorism, the economy, and Iraq. (The numbers don't add up to 100% because voters gave multiple answers). One other interesting tidbit: An overwhelming amount of voteres (62%) say national issues are motivating them, while around half that (33%) say local issues are. In whose favor would that play?
"Corruption in Washington" and Iraq almost certainly favor Democrats. But questions about whether national issues are motivating factors are less clear. Bush loyalists will say they're motivated by national issues with nonsense like "Democrats will raise your taxes and surrender in the war on terror".
November 7, 2006 5:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
the CW would say point Dems if corruption is indeed the #1 issue....as well as the nationalized character of the voter's mood, if it's about Bush, the GOP will take a hit....but that's based on exit polls, and frankly, I'm ignoring them this year, because they've been so (bleep)ably wrong in the past. Anything but actual returns, I'm going to assume that somehow they're skewed, that somehow the GOP may be right about the fallibility of exit polls, because if they actually mattered, the response to Hurricane Katrina would have been the responsibility of a President Kerry.
Bottom line, I don't believe any exit poll that shows corruption a bigger issue than Iraq. Do you?
November 7, 2006 5:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
I could see a late flip/flop with corruption rising to the top of the heap in the wake of the Ted Haggard affair. It had to have an impact.
November 7, 2006 6:18 PM | Reply | Permalink