ATHENS,
Ohio -- (March 3, 2000) The Internet may be the wave of the future, but Ohioans
continue to rely on newspapers and television for political news, according
to a statewide telephone poll by Ohio University's Political Communication
Program.
Only 13 percent of 400 poll respondents said the Internet was a very
important source of information about the presidential hopefuls in next
Tuesday's primary election, while 62 percent rated television news and 57
percent rated newspapers as very important.
The survey also found that education was the most important issue for
voters in Tuesday's primary election with 60 percent identifying it as the
most important issue followed by taxes, moral values, health and social
security. Only 37 percent listed abortion and 18 percent said campaign
finance reform was very important.
Of those listing themselves as likely voters in Tuesday's Republican
primary, 55 percent favored George W. Bush, 25 percent John McCain and 7.6
percent Alan Keyes. Of those saying they'd vote in the Democratic primary,
51 percent favored Vice President Al Gore, 29 percent Bill Bradley and 19.7
percent were undecided.
Ohio has traditionally been a bellwether state as its election results
reflect national trends. But moving this year's state to "Super Tuesday"
may have reduced the state's bellwether status, according to Dru Riley
Evarts, a journalism professor at Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of
Journalism who oversaw the poll.
"Ohio has always been a closely watched bellwether state, but moving the
primary up to March 7 has reduced the national media attention," Evarts
said. "We are also a state with a diminishing population so our electoral
clout is reduced."
Also holding primaries next Tuesday are California, with 54 electoral
votes, and New York, with 33. Ohio has 21 electoral votes, the seventh most
in the country.
The statewide poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.
