Statewide
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November 26, 2004
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Bill Shapard

Oklahomans satisfied overall with outcome of elections.

OKLAHOMA CITY - Oklahoma voters were satisfied overall with the outcome of the Presidential and the U.S. Senate elections that were held earlier this month, according to a post election survey conducted by SoonerPoll.com.

The telephone poll of 500 statewide likely voters commissioned by Fox25 in Oklahoma City and KSWO Channel 7 in Lawton was conducted Monday to Wednesday of this week. The margin of error was 4.4%.

A full 92% of Republican voters in Oklahoma were satisfied with the outcome of the presidential race, with just under half of all Democrats satisfied. Among those Democrat voters, 81% of conservative voters were satisfied while an almost equal amount of liberal Democrat voters were unsatisfied.

'Moral issues' ranked as the number one issue (nearly 40%) among Oklahoma voters when going to the polls earlier this month. While Democrats, Independents and Republicans all picked 'moral issues' as their number one issue, liberal voters chose the 'economy/jobs' as their number one issue.

While Oklahoma has been trending toward Republicans, the change in control over the State House still shows divide between the two parties. Of Republican voters, 90% were happy with the shift of power, although 56% of Democrat voters were unhappy with the change. African-American voters, who are pre-dominantly Democrat voters, were the unhappiest at 82%.

As far the presidential and senatorial debates, slightly more voters found them to be unhelpful. Women voters were slightly more likely to find the debates helpful than male voters.

Television was the top choice among voters when it comes to getting news about the elections, and all voters felt the press was fair in the way it covered both senate candidates, although Oklahomans felt the press was slightly fairer to Brad Carson (63%) than Tom Coburn (57%).

Most voters felt the wording on the ballot for the state questions was more helpful than unhelpful, 58% to 38%. However, more Oklahomans felt the news media was even helpful when it came to informing them on the state questions, 62% to 33%.

While not on the ballot this year, Governor Brad Henry (D), Lt. Governor Mary Fallin (R) and Senior U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe all received high marks from Oklahomans above 60%. Attorney General Drew Edmondson was just above 50%.

Bill Shapard
About the Author

Bill Shapard

Bill is the founder of SoonerPoll.com and ShapardResearch, a full service market research firm based in Oklahoma City. Bill began his career in polling after working on major campaigns for both Republicans and Democrats in Oklahoma from 1996 until founding SoonerPoll in 2004.