Religion and the Presidential Vote
Bush’s Gains Broad-Based
Voting Issues 
11.11.04
Voters Liked Campaign 2004, But Too Much ‘Mud-Slinging’
Summary of Findings Campaign 2004 receives generally favorable marks from the voters. An overwhelming 86% say they learned enough about the candidates to make an informed choice, while two-thirds express satisfaction with the choice of candidates. However, voters also believe this campaign was more negative than previous contests 72% say there was more mud-slinging [...]
10.27.04
Swing Voters Slow to Decide, Still Cross-Pressured
Summary of Findings With less than a week to go before the election, many swing voters have yet to commit to a candidate, but over the past month there has been some movement among this group toward Sen. John Kerry. A Pew Research Center follow-up survey with 519 swing voters who in September were [...]
10.20.04
Race Tightens Again, Kerry’s Image Improves
Summary of Findings As the campaign heads into its final stages, the presidential race is again extremely close. The latest Pew Research Center survey of 1,307 registered voters, conducted Oct. 15-19, finds President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry tied at 45%-45% among registered voters, and 47%-47% among likely voters.(1) These findings represent a [...]
09.28.04
Bush Margin Widens Again, Despite Vulnerabilities
Summary of Findings George W. Bush has reopened a significant lead over challenger John Kerry over the past week, even as voters express less confidence in the president on Iraq and he continues to trail Kerry on the economy. Two successive nationwide surveys of nearly 1,000 registered voters each show Bush’s margin over Kerry growing [...]
08.12.04
Public Faults Bush on Economy – 55% Say Jobs are Scarce
Summary of Findings With three months to go until the presidential election, the American public remains largely dissatisfied with economic conditions and with President Bush’s stewardship of the economy. Two-thirds rate the national economy as “only fair” or “poor,” while just one-third judge it to be “excellent” or “good.” Accordingly, Bush gets low ratings for [...]
07.21.04
Democratic Party Image Improvement
Summary of Findings Sen. John Kerry enters the Democratic convention next week bolstered by a number of favorable trends in public opinion, although he remains locked in a statistical tie for voter support with President George W. Bush. His party is dominant on key domestic issues and at least competitive with the Republicans on every [...]
06.17.04
Public Support for War Resilient
Summary of Findings Americans are paying markedly less attention to Iraq than in the last two months. At the same time, their opinions about the war have become more positive. The number of Americans who think the U.S. military effort is going well has jumped from 46% in May to 57%, despite ongoing violence in [...]
05.12.04
Iraq Prison Scandal Hits Home, But Most Reject Troop Pullout
Summary of Findings Public satisfaction with national conditions has fallen to 33%, its lowest level in eight years, in the wake of revelations of prisoner abuse committed by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. President Bush’s overall job approval rating also has dropped into negative territory: 44% approve of his job performance, while [...]
03.03.04
Three-in-Ten Voters Open to Persuasion
Summary of Findings Heading into an eight-month marathon to Election Day, President Bush and Sen. John Kerry already command strong support from their respective parties and will now try to win over those in the middle: the estimated three-in-ten voters who have not yet fully committed to either candidate. Overall, 38% of voters support [...]
02.27.04
Gay Marriage a Voting Issue, But Mostly for Opponents
Summary of Findings Gay marriage has surpassed other major social issues like abortion and gun control in its influence on voters. Four-in-ten voters say they would not vote for a candidate who disagrees with them on gay marriage, even if they agree with the candidate on most other issues. By comparison, 34% say they would [...]
02.19.04
Democratic Primary Campaign Impresses Voters
Introduction and Summary So far, the presidential primary campaign has been very good for the Democratic Party. Public interest in the race has been relatively high. Nearly half of Americans (45%) have a positive overall impression of the Democratic field, up from 31% just a month ago. And while a slim majority of the public [...]
01.15.04
Economy and Anti-Terrorism Top Public’s Policy Agenda
Introduction and Summary Americans view Howard Dean as more liberal than the other leading Democratic candidates and far more liberal than the way they see themselves. For his part, President Bush is seen as more conservative than the average person. Bush is somewhat further from the ideological self-perception of the average American than are several [...]
