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Journalism of Courage
For the second time in four years, the American people showed themselves deeply split Tuesday about who should lead their country.
Interviews with voters as they left the polls indicated that women, members of minority groups, young people, political independents, moderates and baby boomers voted for Senator John Kerry. As anticipated, Kerry ran powerfully among Blacks, attracting 9 African-American votes in 10; perhaps more surprisingly, the Senator also won a solid majority of Hispanics.
Bush8217;s bid for a second term was handicapped by his failure to compete on even terms with Kerry among the millions of new voters who cast ballots Tuesday. Almost 15 per cent of those questioned said they had not voted in the equally contentious election of 2000, and more than 60 per cent of them reported having chosen Kerry this year.
On the other hand, Bush held on to 90 per cent of the voters who said they had backed him four years ago, and Kerry won 90 per cent of the voters who said they had supported Al Gore, the Democratic nominee in 2000.
Many of those in the electorate as a whole who voted for Kerry said they considered their vote an anti-Bush action rather than a pro-Kerry one, which goes some way towards explaining why the challenger had such a difficult time against a President who was not terribly popular.
The electorate split very nearly down the middle, but Bush clung to leads not only in the national popular vote but also in one of the most important swing states8212;Ohio. Bush won Florida, while Kerry took Pennsylvania.
Three issues dominated voters8217; thinking, interviews suggested: the economy, the threat of terrorism and somewhat surprisingly, since the candidates had given relatively little emphasis to them, moral values.
In some states, like Ohio and Michigan, where job losses have been severe, voters tended to mention jobs as an overriding issue, and Kerry did far better than the President among such voters. Bush did better on terrorism8212;his signature issue8212;Kerry better with voters worried about the nation8217;s healthcare system.
Especially in Florida, where many people felt they had been disenfranchised four years ago, the memory of that election remained fresh enough to propel them to the polls. Elena Martinez, a Cuban-American, said she had waited in line for two hours to cast her ballot for Kerry. 8216;8216;I would have waited longer if I had to,8217;8217; she said. 8216;8216;I think we need a change and I hope we get it.8217;8217;
Hamilton Blackman, an airline worker from the Black Liberty City neighbourhood of Miami, who voted for Kerry, said of Governor Jeb Bush of Florida, 8216;8216;In 2000, Jeb handed his brother the election on a silver platter.8217;8217;
Hundreds of miles north, at a staging area on Cleveland8217;s East Side, Willie Dunn, a canvasser, told a crowd of 50 workers standing in a pelting pre-dawn rain: 8216;8216;If lightning8217;s ever going to strike, it8217;s going to strike today. This is turnaround time. It8217;s vote or die.8217;8217; Then the group fanned out into minority neighbourhoods.
Kerry said again and again during the campaign that the country needed a fresh start, while Bush emphasised the need for continuity during the struggle against terrorism. Some voters agreed with one, some with the other, but their comments as they left the polls showed that on balance the electorate considered change more important than clear, consistent stands on the major issues, which the President said Kerry lacked.
The survey was sponsored by television networks and the Associated Press and conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International.
On one of the measures most closely watched by political strategists and analysts as a measure of satisfaction with an incumbent president, Bush fared less well than his managers had hoped. Half the voters said they thought the country was seriously on the wrong track and fewer than half said it was going in the right direction.
The country remains as divided about the success or failure of Bush8217;s presidency as it was when a Supreme Court ruling led to his narrow victory four years ago.
The videotape recorded by Osama bin Laden that surfaced in the final days of the campaign apparently failed to benefit Bush, as some strategists had anticipated. The poll indicated that almost half the voters thought the tape was either somewhat or very important, and they broke for Kerry. Those who tended to discount its significance, who made up only about a third of the electorate, broke for Bush.
In New Hampshire, two Bush supporters spoke for many across the country, in both cases echoing themes from campaign advertisements and speeches. One of them, Frank Jacobs, 51, a loan officer who said he usually backed Democrats for president, changed his pattern this time to support Bush. 8216;8216;I know we didn8217;t find any mass-destruction weapons, but I know the terrorists are there,8217;8217; he said, speaking about Iraq. Of the President, Jacobs said: 8216;8216;I like what he is doing with the war on terror.8217;8217; Jean George, 40, a watch and jewellery repairer, emphasised consistency, comparing Bush favourably to his rival in that regard. 8216;8216;I believe that he knows what his thoughts are, and he doesn8217;t sway in his belief,8217;8217; she said. 8216;8216;I think he has better moral standing than Kerry does.8217;8217;
An appearance by former President Bill Clinton at a big Center City rally a week ago appeared to have helped Kerry among Black voters, along with a radio commercial in which Clinton backed Kerry with these words: 8216;8216;He can8217;t help it if he wasn8217;t born in Arkansas, and his daddy didn8217;t have a store in a Black neighbourhood. He8217;s got a good heart.8217;8217;
8212; The New York Times
