

Poll: Gore and Bush supporters cite experience, characters as top reasons By Keating Holland/CNN June 11, 1999

Web posted at: 5:00 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT) WASHINGTON (June 11) -- Texas Governor George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore remain the front-runners for their parties' presidential nominations next year, with Gore beating Bill Bradley by almost three-to-one and Bush winning support from 54 percent of all Republicans, according to the latest CNN/TIME poll. Why are Bush and Gore so far ahead of their rivals? To find out, we asked the Republicans who said they support Bush in the GOP primaries and the Democrats who chose Gore to consider a list of items and indicate whether they consider each one to be very important reasons why they support their candidate for the nomination. Why Bush? By this measure, his name identification, endorsements, and his famous father are not as important to Bush Republicans as his experience, his stands on the issues, his chances of winning the White House next November, and above all, his personal character. At the top of the list, 81 percent of Bush Republicans say that his strong personal character is a very important reason why they support him for the GOP nod while 62 percent cite his experience as Texas governor. And a majority -- 58 percent -- also say the fact that he has made his stands on issues clear is why they support him for the GOP nod. Significantly, 56 percent say they support him because he has the best chance of beating the Democratic candidate in November. But several things are not very important to Bush Republicans: Most Bush Republicans say that their views of his father and the number of endorsements he has piled up are not very important reasons why they want him to head the GOP ticket. And only 32 percent say that they favor Bush because they have heard more about him than other GOP candidates. That is not surprising, given the fact that he is running against several rivals who most Americans are familiar with. Why Gore? What reasons do Gore Democrats give for choosing him over Bill Bradley? As with Bush, the top issue is his strong personal character, followed by his experience and clear stands on the issues, while his endorsements and connection to Clinton are not as important. Interestingly, while Bush Republicans and Gore Democrats put strong character at the top of their lists, the GOPers appear to be far more concerned about the character of their nominee than the Democrats. Democrats who support the vice president also appear to be less motivated by their candidate's chances of winning the general election than Bush Republicans. One final difference: a majority of Gore Democrats say that a very important reason why they support the vice president is that they have heard more about him than Bradley. Unlike Bush, Gore faces a relatively unknown opponent. The question for Gore will be whether he can hold onto those supporters once they learn more about his rival. The survey of 1,031 adult Americans, including 389 Republicans, 482 Democrats, was conducted June 9-10, 1999. Among the participants 208 of the Republicans support Bush in the GOP primaries and 294 of Democrats support Gore in the Democratic primaries. The margin sampling of error is indicated with each question. Questions and results "Thinking of the year 2000, if you were asked to vote for a Republican nominee today, which of the following Republicans would you vote for?" Bush 54% Dole 14 Quayle 8 Forbes 6 Buchanan 3 McCain 3 Bauer 2 Kasich 1 Smith 1 Alexander 1 Asked of Republicans only Sampling error: +/-5 pts. "Thinking of the year 2000, if you were asked to vote for a Democratic nominee today, which of the following Democrats would you vote for?" Now March Gore 62% 49% Bradley 23 29 Asked of Democrats only Sampling error: +/-5 percentage points Asked only of Bush Republicans: "You mentioned earlier that you support George W. Bush for the Republican nomination in 2000. Please tell me if each of the following is a very important reason why you support Bush for the nomination:" He is a person of strong 81% personal character His experience as Texas 62 governor He has made his stands 58 on the issues clear He has the best chance 56 of beating the Democratic nominee He has been endorsed by 38 hundreds of Republicans I like his father, former 38 President George Bush I have heard more about 32 him than the other Republican candidates I don't like the other 18 Republican candidates Asked only of Bush Republicans Sampling error: +/-7 percentage points Asked of Gore Democrats: "You mentioned earlier that you support Al Gore for the Democratic nomination in 2000. Please tell me if each of the following is a very important reason why you support Gore for the nomination:" His experience as vice 66% president He is a person of strong 65 personal character He has made his stands 60 on the issues clear I have heard more about 54 him than the other Democratic candidates I like Bill Clinton 45 He has the best chance 43 of beating the Republican nominee nominee He has been endorsed 41 by hundreds of Democrats I don't like the other 18 Democratic candidates Asked only of Gore Democrats Sampling error: +/-7 percentage points