Divided: Poll Shows Even Split On Congress

Sept. 17, 2002
By The Associated Press

The Associated Press poll on politics is based on telephone interviews with 758 randomly selected registered voters from all states except Alaska and Hawaii. The interviews were conducted Sept. 6-10 by ICR/International Communications Research of Media, Pa.


The results were weighted to represent the population by key demographic factors such as age, sex, region and education.

In the poll, no more than one time in 20 should chance variations in the sample cause the results to vary by more than 3.5 percentage points from the answers that would be obtained if all Americans were polled.

This margin of error is larger for responses of subgroups, such as income categories. There are other sources of potential error in polls, including the wording and order of questions.

1. If the elections for Congress were held today, which party's candidate would you vote for in your district? Would you vote for ...

_The Democratic Party candidate, 40 percent.

_The Republican Party candidate, 40 percent.

_Neither, 5 percent.

_Don't know, 14 percent.

_Refused, 1 percent.

2. Which one of the following issues do you think is the most important in the elections for Congress?

_The economy, 23 percent.

_Education, 19 percent.

_Health care, 18 percent.

_Fighting terrorism, 17 percent.

_Social Security, 9 percent.

_Taxes, 8 percent.

_Decline of the stock market, 1 percent.

_Don't know-refused, 5 percent.

3. When it comes to dealing with the economy and jobs, which party do you think would do a better job?

_Democratic Party, 23 percent.

_Republican Party, 21 percent.

_Both about the same, 38 percent.

_Neither, 13 percent.

_Don't know-refused, 5 percent.

4. When it comes to dealing with national security and the war on terrorism, which party do you think would do a better job?

_Democratic Party, 15 percent.

_Republican Party, 37 percent.

_Both about the same, 36 percent.

_Neither, 8 percent.

_Don't know-refused, 4 percent.

5. In general, do you think it is better for the same political party to control both the Congress and the presidency so they can work together more closely or do you think it is better to have different political parties controlling the Congress and the presidency to prevent either one from going too far?

_Better if same party controls Congress and the presidency, 32 percent.

_Better if different parties control Congress and the presidency, 61 percent.

_Don't know-refused, 7 percent.

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