Election 2004 Missouri

Survey of 500 Likely Voters March 23, 2004

Missouri: Bush 49% Kerry 42%

Missouri 2004 Presidential Ballot
Bush	49%
Kerry	42%
Other	4%
Not Sure	5%
RasmussenReports.com

Election 2004

March 23, 2004--In the battleground state of Missouri, President George W. Bush leads Massachusetts Senator John F. Kerry 49% to 42%. Four years ago, Bush won Missouri by four percentage points. In 2002, the GOP picked up a key Senate seat in this state to regain control of the U.S. Senate.

Eighty-seven percent (87%) of Missouri Republicans support the President while just 76% of Democrats say they will vote for Kerry at this time.

Seventy-eight percent (78%) of Bush voters in Missouri are "certain" they will vote for him this fall. The comparable figure for Kerry voters is 68%. These figures are generally consistent with data from around the nation.

Fifty-six percent (56%) of all Missouri voters approve of the way Bush has performed his role as President. Forty-three percent (43%) disapprove.

In Missouri, 41% give the President good or excellent ratings for his handling of the economy. Twenty-two percent (22%) say he is doing a fair job in this area while 36% say poor.

When it comes to the situation in Iraq, 49% give the President good or excellent marks, 17% say fair, and 31% poor.

As for fiscal policy, 42% of Missouri voters say balancing the budget is more important than cutting taxes. Forty-three percent (43%) say cutting taxes is the higher priority.

However, when given a choice between cutting government spending and balancing the budget, 57% say cutting spending is more important. Just 34% would rather balance the budget.

In fact, 70% of Missouri voters say that they would prefer a federal budget that has a deficit at lower levels of taxes and spending rather than a balanced budget with higher levels of taxes and spending. Given this choice, just 16% opt for the balanced budget.

Our first wave of state-by-state polling is currently being released. In Iowa, Kerry leads Bush 51% to 41%. In Minnesota, it's a toss-up with Kerry at 47% and Bush at 44%. In California, Kerry leads by Bush by 9. In Florida, it's Kerry 48% Bush 45%. In Ohio, it's Kerry 45% Bush 41%. In Pennsylvania, Kerry leads a statistically insignificant margin, 45% to 44%. In Michigan, it's Kerry 48% Bush 44%.

The telephone survey of 500 Likely Voters in Missouri was conducted by Rasmussen Reports on March 23, 2004. The margin of sampling error for the full sample is +/- 4.5 percentage points, with a 95% level of confidence.