The survey showed a sharply divided initial public reaction to the court decision ordering statewide hand recounts of disputed votes, with 46 percent agreeing with the court and 47 percent disagreeing. At the same time, responses from those surveyed after Friday’s ruling suggested a reversal of the trend that the public was losing patience with the wrangling in Florida. Polling on Thursday night had shown that–for the first time since the election–as many people (49 percent to 48 percent) thought it was more important to get the presidency resolved than to ensure a fair and accurate vote recount. On Friday, opinion shifted back to a slim majority view that getting the totals right mattered more than getting it done (54 percent to 42 percent).
The percentage of Americans calling for Gore to concede also declined in the 24 hours after the Florida Supreme Court ruling, from 56 percent on Thursday to 49 percent on Friday. A virtually equal 47 percent believe he should pursue the court cases. Gore also picked up some support during the same period: the number who said they’d prefer to see him as the next U.S. president rose to 43 percent on Friday from 39 percent on Thursday. Total support for Texas Governor George W. Bush remained almost constant–46 percent on Friday and 47 percent on Thursday.
In spite of these gains, however, the majority of respondents (56 percent) still approve of the way in which Bush has handled the post-election dispute in Florida. Nor did the majority (58 percent) in the sample think that Bush’s ability to govern will be seriously hurt if hand recounts favoring Gore are excluded (36 percent say it will).
Looking ahead, an overwhelming 82 percent of the entire sample say that the eventual winner of the White House race should pursue his political agenda for the country regardless of his small margin of victory. Respondents also remain optimistic that the bitter battle for power will not cause political gridlock in Washington DC. Sixty percent think whomever is president will be able to work with the House and Senate despite the closeness of the election and the partisan division of the incoming Congress.
The NEWSWEEK Poll was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates. The firm interviewed 1,182 adults, by telephone, aged 18 and older Dec. 7 and Dec. 8. The margin of error for the entire poll is plus or minus 3 percentage points. The margin of error for Thursday night and Friday night is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
