Mountain Xpress Poll

“Since 9-11 President Bush has instituted numerous national policies. On the whole, do you support the president’s agenda?”

As part of our coverage of the regional response to national events since last September, Xpress conducted a public opinion poll between Aug. 20 and Sept. 4.

The results

Buncombe County

Support: 44%, Don’t support: 44%, No preference: 11%

Among Xpress readers

Support: 7%, Don’t support: 86%, No preference: 7%

The 44 percent approval rating reported here is 10 points lower than the percentage of votes George Bush received in the 2000 general election in Buncombe County, and is 25 percent below the approval ratings currently reported by ABC News/Washington Post.* Our data also seem to reflect the city/county split seen on many other issues in the region, with Bush support pegged at 34 percent within the city limits and 57 percent in the county, when results were analyzed separately.

Five Xpressreporters queried 300 customers at 15 grocery stores countywide. We also conducted a survey of 150 Xpress readers.

The Xpress poll was conducted in person among a random sample of 300 adults between Aug. 21 and Sept. 4. Subsequent tabulation provided the following breakdown by gender and race: 54% women; 46% men; 86% white; 11% black; 3% Latino and other. (The 2000 Census reports that Buncombe’s population is 51% women; 49% men; 87% white; 7.5% black; 5.5% Latino and other.)

The Xpress reader survey was conducted in person among a random sample of 150 persons found reading, holding or sharing a copy of the paper between Aug. 21 and Sept.4 in the greater Asheville area.

*The ABCNEWS/Washington Post poll was conducted by telephone July 24-28 among a random national sample of 1,023 adults.

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About Cecil Bothwell
A writer for Mountain Xpress since three years before there WAS an MX--back in the days of GreenLine. Former managing editor of the paper, founding editor of the Warren Wilson College environmental journal, Heartstone, member of the national editorial board of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, publisher of Brave Ulysses Books, radio host of "Blows Against the Empire" on WPVM-LP 103.5 FM, co-author of the best selling guide Finding your way in Asheville. Lives with three cats, macs and cacti. His other car is a canoe. Paints, plays music and for the past five years has been researching and soon to publish a critical biography--Billy Graham: Prince of War:

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