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You won't find these numbers just anywhere. Wouldn't Touch It with a...By Rick Horowitz It's not just "How many?" -- it's "How come?" Election Day '98 is history, and to help us understand why the voters did what they did, we turn once again to the Ten-Foot Poll, America's most distinguished exit survey of electoral attitudes and platitudes. Our group of 1231 randomly invented voters was drawn from across the country and across the political spectrum, and offers insights you'll find literally nowhere else. The mood of the nation this election season? Satisfied. In most races, voters were inclined to stick with the tried and true, despite well-financed advertising campaigns trying to get them to change their minds. Asked their preference for Congress, our sample favored... A. The lying creep who wants to dismantle Social Security and make my retirement years a living hell: 52% B.
The rotten putzhead who wants to give billions of my
hard-earned tax dollars to disgusting Washington
bureaucrats: 48% While voters typically approved of the job their own congressman was doing, they expressed some ambivalence about Congress in general. Asked, for instance, to list Congress' major legislative accomplishments during the past year, our survey said this: A. Patients' Bill of Rights: 13% B. Anti-smoking legislation: 11% C. Campaign-finance reform: 7% D. Major tax relief: 3% E.
Is this a trick question?: 66% Despite the lack of a single, galvanizing national issue to get them to the polls, our survey respondents generally found their own reasons to turn out and vote: A. Strongly support particular candidate: 30% B. Local issues I care about: 32% C. Voting a civic duty: 26% D.
Totally buff dude/chick working at polling place: 12% As always in a closely contested election, swing voters played a key role in determining the outcome. Swing voters in our survey preferred... A. To take a swing at Bill Clinton: 27% B. To take a swing at Newt Gingrich: 29% C.
To take a swing at Ken Starr: 44% Going into Election Day, of course, many politicians wondered just what effect Mr. Clinton's relationship with Monica Lewinsky would have on voter attitudes. Regarding Mr. Clinton himself, the voters we surveyed were somewhat divided: A. He's a sleazeball: 43% B.
He's our sleazeball: 57% But only rarely did these attitudes translate into decisive voting patterns. Public interest in the various White House scandals continues to lag well behind congressional and media scrutiny. In fact, survey respondents made clear that when it comes the Clinton-Lewinsky saga, they've had it up to... A. Here: 22% B. Here: 26% C.
Here: 52% Rather than spending all its time on impeachment, our voters said, the next Congress should make its highest priority: A. Cutting my taxes: 16% B. Passing new programs for my benefit: 15% C. Keeping the budget balanced so I can refinance my house: 11% D.
All of the above: 58% More money was spent during this congressional election cycle than ever before. We asked voters about the influence special interests exert on the political process: A. Too much influence: 57% B. Too little influence: 14% C.
Politicians look cute in lobbyists' pockets: 29% Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, voters have paid less attention to problems beyond America's borders. The trend continued this year, as voters said they considered foreign affairs... A. Not at all important: 19% B. Somewhat important: 41% C. Very important: 18% D.
Something for President and Mrs. Clinton to work out for
themselves: 22% And lastly, with Election Day '98 now behind us, we asked our respondents to look ahead to the 2000 presidential race. Here's how they saw it: A. Al Gore: 3% B. George W. Bush: 6% C. How would you like to eat that clipboard? 91% Posted
11/3/98. Fresh stuff right here twice
weekly!
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