Monday, November 27, 2000

The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll is based on telephone interviews with 607 randomly selected adults nationwide, conducted November 26, 2000. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.

1. How closely have you been following the situation involving the presidential election - very closely, somewhat closely, not too closely or not closely at all?

          Very    Somewhat   Not too   Not closely    No
         closely   closely   closely      at all     opin. 
11/26/00   39        41        12          8          *
11/12/00   46        39        11          5          0

2. 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?

            -----Should concede-----     ---Should not concede----     No
            NET    Strgly.    Smewht.    NET    Strgly.    Smwhat.    opin. 
11/26/00    60       53          6       35       31          3         6

3. (ASKED IF CONCEDE IN Q.2) Do you feel that way mainly because you think the vote count was fair, or mainly because you want this to be over with?

           Count was fair    Want it to be over    No opinion
11/26/00         67                  29                 4 

4. How confident are you that the votes in Florida have been counted accurately - very confident, somewhat confident, not too confident or not confident at all?

          ------Confident-------     ------Not Confident-----      No
          NET  Very    Somewhat       NET  Not too   Not at all   opin. 
11/26/00  56     27       30          39      18         21         5

Compare to:

How confident are you that the Florida results will be counted accurately - very confident, somewhat confident, not too confident or not confident at all?

          ------Confident-------     ------Not Confident-----      No
          NET  Very    Somewhat       NET  Not too   Not at all   opin. 
11/16/00  50     19       31          46      18         28         4
11/12/00  59     21       38          38      20         18         3

5. 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    Should have allowed      No
               thing           the extension        opin. 
11/26/00        56                   42               2 

6. The United States Supreme Court has agreed to a request from the Bush campaign that it review the Florida vote count. Do you approve or disapprove of the United States Supreme Court getting involved in this case?

            Approve    Disapprove    No opinion
11/26/00       58          36             7

7. Leaders of the state legislature in Florida have said they may get involved in determining the winner of the election there. Would you approve or disapprove of the Florida state legislature getting involved in this matter?

            Approve    Disapprove    No opinion
11/26/00       33          59             8

8. You may have heard or read about "dimpled" or "indented" chads. These are punch-card ballots in which the voter's punch did not go all the way through. Do you think ballots with dimpled or indented chads should or should not be counted as votes?

             Should be     Should not       No 
             counted       be counted      opin. 
11/26/00       45              48            7

9. What do you think is more important - for this to end quickly, say within a week; or for both campaigns to have a chance to make their full case in court, even if it takes longer than that? (IF "CHANCE TO MAKE CASE IN COURT": How long are you willing to wait for this to end - a couple of weeks, up to a month or longer than that?)

                         -Make case in court, willing to wait-     
               End this         A few    Up to a  Longer than      No
               quickly   NET    weeks     month     a month       opin. 
11/26/00          57     40       12         7         20           4 

Compare to:

What do you think is more important - for this to end quickly, say within a week; or for both campaigns to have a chance to make their full case in court, even if it takes longer than that?

             End quickly    Make case in court     No opinion
11/16/00        57                40                  3

10. If this ends with (Gore/Bush) winning the presidency, will you consider him to have been legitimately elected as president, or not?

           --------Gore------     ------Bush---------
           Yes   No   No opin.    Yes   No   No opin. 
11/26/00   60    36       5       76    19       5

11. Who do you personally want to become the next president - (Al Gore) or (George W. Bush)?

                             Neither   Other     No
               Gore   Bush   (vol.)    (vol.)   opin. 
11/26/00        42     43      10        2       3
11/16/00        44     43      10        2       2
11/12/00*       44     45      6         1       4

*"As you probably know, the results of Tuesday's presidential election are still unclear. Who do you personally want to see become the next president…"

*= less than 0.5 percent