Crucial Florida Vote May Hinge On Burgeoning Latino Population
By Dan Balz and Richard Morin
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, October 16, 2004; Page A01
The state that decided the 2000 election remains as deeply divided over the choice for president today as it was four years ago, with President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry deadlocked in Florida amid signs of extraordinary intensity and partisanship among voters, according to a new survey by The Washington Post, Univision and the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute.
With less than three weeks before Election Day, Florida and its 27 electoral votes represent the biggest single prize left on an electoral map that has seen the number of truly competitive states shrink to a dozen or fewer.
The new poll shows that Florida may be headed toward another photo finish. Among likely voters, Bush and Kerry each received 48 percent of the vote in a hypothetical ballot test -- mirroring the race nationally. Independent Ralph Nader, whose votes probably cost Al Gore the state, pulled 1 percent, slightly below his statewide percentage four years ago. Bush and Kerry were also tied among registered votes, at 47 percent each, with Nader at 1 percent.
The Post interviewed a random sample of 1,001 adults in Florida between Oct. 4-10, including 823 self-described registered voters and 655 likely voters, to produce the overall statewide results. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points for the overall sample and plus or minus four percentage points for the sample of likely voters. The Hispanic results are based on a sample of 800 Hispanic registered voters in Florida, who were interviewed between Sept. 23 and Oct. 1. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36823-2004Oct15.html?sub=AR-----------
Old poll but the story is new today.