Copyright 2000 The National Journal, Inc.
The National Journal
May 13, 2000
SECTION: POLLING; Pg. 1552; Vol. 32, No. 20
LENGTH: 924 words
HEADLINE:
Poll Track For May 13, 2000
BYLINE: Deborah Acomb
BODY:
Issue Spotlight
A Prohibitive
Price Tag?
By a narrow 53 percent to 44 percent
majority, Americans
say that a proposed land- and space-based limited
missile defense
system is too expensive, and fear that it could trigger a
new
arms race, says an ABCNews.com poll. The system, which the
Congressional Budget Office estimated last month would cost $ 60
billion, is designed to protect the United States from a limited
nuclear
attack. Along party lines, 60 percent of Republicans
support the program,
but only 41 percent of Democrats favor it.
Women oppose the program, 58
percent to 38 percent, but men are
fairly evenly divided, with 52 percent in
favor and 47 percent
opposed. President Clinton will decide later this
summer whether
to pursue the plan. (4/30/00; 1,004 adults; margin of error
plus
or minus 3%)
China Trade
The House is set to vote later this
month on whether to grant
permanent normal trade relations status to China.
Although
opposition to China's entry into the World Trade Organization has
hovered around 37 percent since December, support for the trade
pact has
declined slightly during the same period, from 50
percent to 44 percent,
according to the Hart-Teeter poll for NBC
News and The Wall Street Journal.
(5/1/00; 1,003 voters; plus or
minus 3.2%)
Congress
Congress
Should
Approve Should Not Approve
12/99
50%
38%
1/00 51
35
3/00 48
36
4/00
44
37
Satisfied Customers
High Grades for High Tech
Even though the antitrust suit against
Microsoft Corp. has
dominated the news for months, consumers still gave
computer
software manufacturers the highest rating for customer service,
according to a new Harris Poll. Seventy-eight percent of this
year's
respondents to the annual survey said software companies
are doing a good
job of serving their customers; second place
went to the computer hardware
industry, rated "good" by 76
percent. Banks, at 73 percent, rounded out the
top three. Tobacco
companies (28 percent), managed care companies, (29
percent), and
health insurance and oil companies (both 39 percent) were the
worst in customer service, according to the poll. Since the
survey was
first conducted in 1997, the oil, pharmaceutical, and
managed care
industries have taken the biggest hits: The
percentage of consumers who
believe those industries are serving
their customers well has dropped by 20
percent or more. (4/10/00;
1,024 adults; margin of error plus or minus 3%)
Legislative Priorities
Get Cracking on Medicare!
What do Americans
want Congress to do this year? Add prescription
drug benefits to Medicare
coverage, according to a survey by
Hart-Teeter for NBC News and The Wall
Street Journal; 26 percent
of registered voters identified Medicare drug
coverage as their
top priority.
Legislative Priorities for
Congress
Adding prescription drug coverage to Medicare 26%
Cutting taxes
19
Tougher gun
restrictions
16
Protecting the privacy of
consumers' financial
and medical records 14
Passing a
patients' bill of rights
7
Increasing the minimum wage
6
All, none, not sure
12
The patients' bill of rights was low
on voters' legislative
agendas, but in a separate question on health care
reform, 26
percent said that the first priority of any health reform should
be preventing HMOs and insurance companies from limiting medical
treatment because of its cost. Twenty-one percent said
controlling the
cost of health insurance should be the leading
priority, and 16 percent
identified the lack of Medicare drug
benefits as a prime area for reform.
(5/1/00; 1,003 voters, plus
or minus 3.2%)
White House 2000
Choose
Your Candidate
Which presidential candidate do you support at this time, or
haven't you picked a candidate yet?
Don't currently
George
W. Bush Al Gore support a candidate
4/22/00
23%
17% 57%
3/19/00
21 16
50
3/12/00
21 19
49
3/5/00
17 14
55
2/27/00
15 15
59
2/20/00
12 12
61
2/13/00 11
9
68
2/9/00 13
12 63
2/6/00 17
15 54
1/30/00
15
10 66
1/23/00
15 8
66
1/16/00
14 4
70
1/2/00
13 6
73
11/14/99
16 6
64
10/12/99 14
10
62
(Shorenstein Center Poll for the Vanishing Voter Project;
4/30/00;
1,000 adults; plus or minus 3%)
LOAD-DATE: May 15,
2000 
