Poll: Voters Strongly Oppose Democrats' Legal Maneuvers to Change Recount Rules

12/6/2004 8:00:00 PM


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To: State Desk

Contact: Stuart Elway, 206-264-1500, ext. 14; Harvey Valentine, 202-662-4143, both of the Republican Governors Association; Web: http://www.rga.org

SEATTLE, Dec. 6 /U.S. Newswire/ -- In a poll conducted yesterday by Elway Research of Seattle for the Republican Governors Association, Washington voters adamantly reject the centerpiece of the Democrat party's legal tactics before the state Supreme Court.

By a margin of 68-25 percent, voters said the Supreme Court should leave state law "as it is and only ballots determined to be valid in the original count and the first re-count should be included in the second re-count."

Pollster Stuart Elway, whose firm conducted the statewide survey of 400 registered voters, said "By almost a three-to-one margin, voters are very clear that the Supreme Court should not change the rules to put disqualified ballots back in the recount. This means more than half the Democrats in the survey disagree with their party leaders on this issue."

Voters are also resolved that Republican Dino Rossi is the legitimate winner. "Voters said that Rossi is the legitimate winner and Gregoire should concede, by a margin of 51-45 percent. Again, this indicates the public is comfortable with the results already certified and wants to move on," Elway said.

It appears that Christine Gregoire's legal maneuvers to manipulate the recounts are wearing thin with voters. The measurement of favorable and unfavorable opinions of Gregoire (51-42 percent) and Rossi (63-29 percent) indicates that her moves to prolong or change the process are damaging her image.

Elway said the survey results have been weighted to reflect the proportion of Gregoire and Rossi voters as of the November 2 general election. Telephone interviews were completed with 405 registered voters on Dec 5, 2004. The overall margin of sampling error is plus-5 percent.

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