Gore Scores In Delaware
Vice President Al Gore enjoyed a comfortable win in Delaware's non-binding Democratic primary on Saturday.
Delaware's contest, as well as one in Washington state later this month, are both beauty contests in which no delegates are selected. But they are also the only Democratic contests between New Hampshire and the big multi-state primaries on March 7.
In the exceptionally low turnout contest (only 5 percent of registered Democrats participated), Gore's victory in Delaware was powered by a strong state economy, and high approval ratings for President Clinton.
WHO CHOSE WHOM
Gore won virtually all demographic groups, with his strongest support coming from union households and lower income voters. 30 percent of Democratic primary voters were from union households, and 68 percent of them supported Gore. Bradley performed best among the well-educated and self-described independents, drawing close Gore within each group.
Gore's advantage in this contest was sewn up fairly early in the season: among the quarter of voters who made up their minds before the start of the year, Gore received 80 percent of the vote.
BLACK VOTERS AND RACE RELATIONS
The Delaware contest provided the first real test of each candidate's support among African-American voters. As expected, Gore received strong support from black voters: 75 percent chose the Vice President.
When it came to dealing with race relations, however, Gore had only a slight advantage. 58 percent of voters overall said that both Bradley and Gore would do a good job on race relations. But among blacks, 28 percent said only Gore would do a good job, compared to 17 percent of whites.
THE CLINTON LEGACY
Sixty-five percent of Delaware's Democratic primary voters said their family's financial situation is better today than it was four years ago. Sixty percent of these voters supported Gore, with only 37 percent going for Bradley. In addition, an astounding 96 percent of Democratic primary voters described the condition of the Delaware economy as good or excellent, and well over half of them supported Gore.
83 percent of Delaware's Democratic primary voters approve of Clinton*s job performance, and among these voters, Gore won 62 percent of the vote. Voters are also positive toward Clinton as a person, although somewhat less so: 53 percent view him favorably, and 44 percent view him unfavorably. Gore won 70 percent of the vote among those who view Clinton favorably, but only 43 percent among those who view the President unfavorably. Bradley received 56 percent of the vote among those who view Clinton unfavorably.
SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE
The most important issues in the Delaware vote were Social Security and Medicare -- chosen by 27 percent of voters -- as well as the economy -- chosen by 16 percent. In contrast, New Hampshire voters chose health care and education as the top issues in making decisions on February 1.
mong seven candidate qualities, experience was the most important to Democratic primary voters. Twenty-sven percent of primary voters chose experience, and another 19 percent chose standing up for beliefs. Gore's voters were most concerned with experience, while Bradley's were most likely to choose standing up for what he believes. In New Hampshire, where Bradley performed much better, standing up for what he believes was the most important candidate quality overall (29 percent chose it).
Only 25 percent of voters said Bradley's heart condition could interfere with his ability to serve as President (similar to the 21 percent who said so in New Hampshire). Among these voters, Gore performed exceptionally well -- 85 percent to 10 percent for Bradley.
Among those who said Bradley's health is no problem -- 71 percent -- Bradley edged Gore 52 percent to 47 percent.
The CBS News exit poll was conducted among 552 Democratic primary voters in Delaware as they left the polls. The error due to sampling could be plus or minus four percentage points for the entire sample. The sampling error for sub-groups could be higher.