Issue Watch
Track global public opinion on current issues.
- 2008: Race for the White House
- 2008: The U.S. Electoral College
- Abortion
- Africa
- Angela Merkel
- Death Penalty
- Economy and Globalization
- Environment
- European Union
- George W. Bush
- Global Warming
- Gordon Brown
- Hamas
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- Iraq War
- Kevin Rudd
- Latin America
- New Zealand Election 2008
- Nicolas Sarkozy
- North Korea
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- Same-Sex Marriage
- Silvio Berlusconi
- Stem Cell Research
- Stephen Harper
- Terrorism
- U.S. Election 2008 - The Democrats
- U.S. Election 2008 - The Republicans
- U.S. Election 2008: The Primaries
- Vladimir Putin
- Yasuo Fukuda
Angus Reid Global Monitor : Polls & Research
Last Presidential Election Fair, Say Americans
(Angus Reid Global Scan) - Most people in the United States believe their electoral system worked properly in last year's presidential ballot, according to a poll by Harris Interactive for the American Bar Association. 79 per cent of respondents are confident that their vote was accurately counted.
In the U.S., the president and vice-president are elected in a single ticket to a four-year term by an Electoral College, whose members represent each state of the union with a previously determined number of electoral votes, in accordance with the results of the popular vote in each state.
In November 2004, Republican incumbent George W. Bush earned a second term after securing 286 electoral votes from 31 states. Candidates require 270 votes in the Electoral College to win the White House.
The butterfly ballot is said to have confused many voters in Florida's Palm Beach County during the 2000 election. Although the Democratic ticket was listed second in the left page, they were in fact the third hole in the middle of the ballot. Florida's 25 electoral votes decided the 2000 presidential election, after weeks of recounts and court injunctions concluded in a 537-vote victory for Bush over Democrat Al Gore.
According to a study by the Palm Beach Post, more than 8,000 voters unintentionally invalidated their ballot in 2000 by choosing Gore and either Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan or Socialist contender David McReynolds.
Polling Data
How much confidence do you have that your vote was accurately counted?
Extremely confident | 29% |
Very confident | 28% |
Confident | 22% |
Somewhat confident | 14% |
Not at all confident | 6% |
Source: Harris Interactive / American Bar Association
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,002 American adults, conducted from Jul. 22 to Jul. 27, 2005. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.