Des Moines Register: Retail politics still counts
in IowaBy Jeff Zeleny/Des Moines Register
January 10, 2000
Web posted at: 12:13 p.m. EST (1713 GMT)
 DES MOINES, Iowa (Des Moines Register) -- Political
lore says that if presidential candidates want to score well in Iowa they must get up close and
personal with voters in coffee shops, living rooms and school gymnasiums in every corner of the state.
But how many caucus-goers actually see a candidate in the flesh?
The latest Iowa Poll shows that about one-third of the voters likely to participate in the caucuses
has either met a candidate or heard a candidate speak at an event. One of four voters surveyed have
met their first choice for president.
Sandii Duffy of Cedar Rapids is among the majority of Democrats and Republicans surveyed who say they
have not met a candidate personally. Duffy says that she's been too busy with her children's school
activities to get in on the presidential candidate circuit.
"Times just haven't corresponded with my schedule," said Duffy, 51. "I can read and see news clips of
what they are professing and get just as good a sense of what they are doing."
The Iowa Poll, conducted last week for The Des Moines Register, included 501 Democrats and 500
Republicans who plan to attend the Jan. 24 caucuses. Each sample has a margin of error of 4.4
percentage points.
When the registered voters were asked whether they had met the candidates personally, 34 percent of
Democrats and 39 percent of Republicans said they had met a candidate. When asked whether they had met
their first choice for president, 26 percent of Democrats and Republicans answered yes.
Democrats between the ages of 18 and 34 were less likely than Republicans of the same age group to
have met a presidential candidate, the survey found. Voters who have household incomes of more than
$75,000 were more likely to have met a candidate than people in lower income groups. About half of the
respondents in the higher income bracket said they had met a candidate.
|
