Some Poll Results

Everyone loves polls! Let's take a look:

When asked if any Democratic presidential candidate could do a better job than Bush is doing on Iraq, 22 percent of voters say yes, 58 percent say no. Things are only slightly more positive for Democrats on managing the economy, with 32 percent of respondents saying a Democrat could do a better job than Bush is doing and 50 percent saying no.

On both questions, few of the respondents who say a Democrat could do better, are also able to volunteer a candidate';s name. Of those candidates mentioned as doing a better job on Iraq, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry is named most often at 11 percent, followed by New York Sen. Hillary Clinton at nine percent, and former Vice President Al Gore at seven percent.

As the Democrat who could do a better job than Bush on the economy, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean is mentioned most frequently at eight percent, and close behind are Clinton and Gore both at seven percent.

Of course, Hillary isn't even a candidate; good job, Democrats.

This next bit was predictable:

Overall, the top issues that voters say will be "very important" to their vote in the next presidential election include the economy (83 percent), health care (76 percent), education (75 percent), Social Security (72 percent), terrorism (69 percent) and Medicare (66 percent).

The top three "very important" issues among Democrats are the economy (89 percent), health care (86 percent) and education (82 percent). Among Republicans the priorities are the economy (77 percent), terrorism (74 percent) and education (69 percent).

The economy, fine; Americans like money. Health care is #2 among Democrats though, whereas terrorism is #2 for Republicans. I wonder if Democrats really are less concerned about terrorism than Republicans are, or if they think that even mentioning such concern to a pollster would indicate support for President Bush? I wonder if the Democrats would be more worried about terrorism if we hadn't already made such great progress in stopping it?

Half of Americans believe the United States going to war with Iraq was justified even if weapons are never found, while 12 percent think the war was justified only if the WMD are discovered and 27 percent think the war was not justified at all. Opinions are predictably partisan on this issue, as 78 percent of Republicans think the war was justified even without finding the Iraqi weapons compared to just 21 percent of Democrats.

By an almost two-to-one margin the public opposes allowing gay couples to "marry legally." Less than a third (32 percent) say homosexual couples should be able to marry while 58 percent say they should not.

That's certainly enough support to get a Constitutional Amendment passed, if one is proposed. Too bad the poll didn't ask about abortion.