Reply #33: Well Doctor F. [View All]

[Nicholas_J]

Exits polls out of Iowa indicated that many of the things reported in the media had a very strong effect on the final decision of people to vote against Dean. A good number of people were found to have not been satisfied with his answers to the questions about ow he got out of the draft. While I hold nothing against anyone who tried to get out of the Vietnam War, many people in Iowa seemed to not feel confortable with Deans explanations, and many indicated that they would have been more confortable with Dean saying, I tohught the war was unjust adn wanted to get out of it anyway that I could, rather than hanging onto his medical deferrent as a reason, expecially when he was able to engage in some rather strenous activity afterwards. This was heavily reflected in the Iowa exit polls. Of course other isses about electability were given in the exit polls as well, including Deabns obvious lack of experience in Foreign Affairs.
I found that after Iowa, the exit polls went far more in dpeth in asking questions about why Dean lost, as this was a surprise to many, even though the polls in the last two weeks were starting to show a reversal. Another factor in the exit polls was that people were paying attention to the inforamtion that Gephardt was releasing about Deans record as governor, and comparing them to articles that verified Gephardts revelations. Gephardt may have ruined his own chances by going negative, but the things he was giving out were very effective in making people think twice about Dean, particularly his past statements about Social Security and Medicare. Iowa has a good sized percentage of people who are retired or nearing retrement age, and even a hint of more cuts to services in those programs does not go over well with people in those age groups.