Gallup Poll: Bush Leading Gore Among Likely Voters in November Election
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: We have a crystal ball of our own. His name is Frank Newport. He is Gallup's editor in chief and he's going to take a look at how the Democratic and Republican standard bearers are stacking up against each other. Frank, you have been amazingly right on throughout this campaign season.</s>FRANK NEWPORT, EDITOR IN CHIEF, GALLUP POLL: Well, I hope we continue to be so. We're monitoring the pulse of the public still. And let's tell you now what we're looking at for November. Now, that's a long time away, so don't hold us to this because a lot can change. George Bush is still ahead of Al Gore among likely voters when we asked them who they would vote for next November, and that's the one we'll be measuring between now and November since the primaries are over, although the race has narrowed some, as you can see. Taking it through January all the way up to our most recent poll, which we just finished a day or two ago, Bush has a very narrow six point lead. By the way, Michele mentioned John McCain voters. We've asked them who they were going to vote for now that McCain wasn't -- he has suspended his campaign. They broke a little more for George Bush than they did to Al Gore. So Bush is benefiting slightly, as you can see. All in all, though, it's a fairly even race in terms of the impression of the candidates, which really gives us in our analysis the impression that this is right now at the starting gate a fairly even race. This is: Do you have a favorable opinion of the two candidates? And you can see Bush was slightly above Gore. Its kind of bounced around, but in our last numbers here, statistically, that's a rough tie. About 60 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of both candidates. Those who don't tend to be people from the other party. Now where do they stand up in terms of issues? Well, we ask Americans about a lot of issues, and these are some examples of where each candidate has some strength here. Gore has some strengths on the traditional Democratic issues, the environment, health-care, things along those lines. George Bush does better in terms of crime and also moral climate, which is something he's going to emphasize against Al Gore. On campaign finance reform, they're roughly even. That's where the public stands now. Back to you in Atlanta.</s>LIN: Thanks, Frank. We like that tight race shaping up for November.