An Exclusive CNBC Poll Finds That Americans Feel That the Bush Administration and Congress Should Focus More On the Economy

Business Wire, Nov 4, 2002

Business Editors

FORT LEE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 4, 2002

CNBC today released the results of an exclusive poll in which 1,000 American adults shared their opinions regarding economic and political issues. The questions and results are as follows:

    1.  Which of the following should the Bush Administration and
        Congress currently be more focused on?

        THE WAR WITH IRAQ...............................29%
        THE ECONOMY.....................................60%
        DON'T KNOW......................................10%

For the first time since CNBC's exclusive weekly polls debuted on Oct. 10, there has been a shift in American's feelings concerning the primary issue Washington should be focused on, with the possible War with Iraq dropping in importance. The average value of importance of a potential war with Iraq over the last five weeks has been 37%; this week it dropped to 29%. The previous low was 35% on Oct. 23.

    2.  Thinking about the congressional election in your district, do
        you feel there is a satisfactory candidate or would you prefer
        to have another candidate to vote for?

        THERE IS A SATISFACTORY CANDIDATE...............56%
        I WOULD PREFER TO HAVE ANOTHER CANDIDATE TO
        VOTE FOR........................................29%
        DON'T KNOW......................................15%

    3.  Without telling me how you intend to vote, have you decided
        who you are going to vote for in the election on Tuesday or
        are you still undecided?

        DECIDED.........................................56%
        UNDECIDED/NOT SURE..............................39%
        DON'T INTENT TO VOTE/NOT VOTING..................5%
        REFUSED..........................................0%

    4.  Which is more important to you in deciding who to vote for
        this coming Tuesday?

        THE PERSON......................................75%
        OR, THE PARTY THEY REPRESENT....................19%
        DON'T INTENT TO VOTE/NOT VOTING..................2%
        DON'T KNOW.......................................4%

    5.  Is the economy the most important issue influencing how you
        will cast your vote in Tuesday's election?

        YES.............................................58%
        NO..............................................37%
        DON'T INTENT TO VOTE/NOT VOTING..................2%
        DON'T KNOW.......................................3%

    6.  Which party's candidate will you be voting for in this
        election?

        REPUBLICAN......................................31%
        DEMOCRAT........................................33%
        INDEPENDENT......................................8%
        OTHER............................................2%
        NONE OF THE ABOVE................................2%
        DON'T INTEND TO VOTE.............................4%
        DON'T KNOW/NOT SURE/UNDECIDED...................21%

    7.  Are you planning to vote in the upcoming elections this
        Tuesday?

        YES.........................................87%
        NO..........................................9%
        DON'T KNOW/NOT SURE.........................4%

CNBC conducted this poll with PKS Research Partners. For this poll, 1,000 adults, aged 18 and older, were interviewed by telephone on Nov. 1, 2002. The margin of error of this poll is plus or minus three percentage points.

CNBC is the recognized global leader in business news, providing real-time financial market coverage and business information to more than 175 million homes worldwide, including more than 86 million households in the United States and Canada. The network's Business Day programming (weekdays from 5:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m. ET) is produced at CNBC's headquarters in Fort Lee, N.J., and also includes reports from CNBC news bureaus worldwide. Additionally, CNBC viewers can manage their individual investment portfolios and gain additional in-depth information from on-air reports by accessing www.cnbc.com. CNBC Europe and CNBC Asia Pacific are services of NBC and Dow Jones & Company. Members of the media can receive more information about CNBC and its programming on the NBC Media Village Web site at www.nbcmv.com/cnbc.> PKS Research Partners is a full service marketing research organization, offering a broad range of capabilities including custom research, consumer, business-to-business, global, omnibus and rapid response market analysis. Research is conducted in the television, financial services, advertising, public relations, travel and tourism and consumer products industries, among others. PKS Research Partners can reach target markets utilizing both state of the art and traditional methodologies such as phone, online, mall intercepts and IVR. More information about PKS Research Partners can be found at www.PKSresearch.com.