Who’s Voting Although turnout may be slightly lower this year than in 1994, there are no substantial differences in the composition of those most likely to go to the polls. As in the last midterm election, voters will be disproportionately older (49% over age 50, just 9% of those under 30), better educated and more […]
Introduction and Summary In his sixth State of the Union next week, President Clinton will face an American public that retains a healthy appetite for government activism — fully two-thirds advocate spending any budget surplus this year. But that enthusiasm is tempered by often sharp generational differences on federal spending priorities. In a clear signal […]
Survey Findings Pew’s latest News Interest Index finds that a little bit of news about Medicare reform travels a long way, while a lot of news about tax relief is mostly greeted with shrugs and disbelief. Fewer than four in ten Americans (38%) paid close attention to the ongoing Washington debate about how to cut […]
Survey Findings Bill Clinton’s lead over Bob Dole and Ross Perot remains as wide and deep at the end of the final week of the campaign as it has been for the past two months, despite the growing controversy about Democratic campaign finance irregularities. The Pew Research Center’s final survey of 1,211 likely voters, taken […]
Dole’s Image The respective campaign success and failure of Clinton and Dole with various constituencies emerges more clearly in the public’s assessment of each candidate’s personal character, attitudes and performance. In these measurements, Dole has lost ground or has not improved for the most part compared to seven months ago. For example, fewer voters now […]
Introduction and Summary After two presidential debates and six weeks of the general campaign Bill Clinton’s lead over Bob Dole is as large as it was in early September. The course of the race has changed little with the passing of each important campaign milestone. The only observable consequence of the debates is that the […]
Buchanan: First or Second Choice of 48% Within the ranks of the GOP itself, Buchanan still trails Dole by a 39% to 24% margin as a first choice for the nomination. But nearly half (48%) name the former broadcaster as either their first or their second choice for top of the ticket. Alexander places a […]
The Times Mirror Center in 1987 developed a unique voter classification system based on three major elements — party affiliation, political participation, and personal values and attitudes — and using the statistical technique called “cluster analysis.” The new typology in 1995 is built on the same foundation, with minor modifications. Nine values and attitudes were […]
Introduction and Summary Anxiety may replace anger as the dominant voter emotion in 1996. A major national survey finds significantly more Americans than 18 months ago worried about affording major expenses such as health care costs, college tuition, retirement funds and housing costs. Voter anxiety has increased across the political spectrum and appears to be […]