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Examiner straw poll for Marietta, GA
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Examiners from major cities across the country conducted a straw poll of voters to better understand their habits leading up to Election Day. Respondents were randomly selected to participate and asked a series of questions listed below.
» Results of the Examiner nationwide straw poll
Question 1: Have you been polled before today on election issues?
| Yes | No |
| 2 | 16 |
Question 2: On Election Day, did you vote for the same candidates that you intended to vote for prior to arriving at the polling location?
| Yes | No |
| 17 | 1 |
Question 3: What was the single most important issue to you in this election that affected how you voted?
SUMMARY: The 8 women and 10 men who were found around Marietta Square, near the Cobb County, Georgia government offices, responded unhesitatingly to the questions in the poll. All but one man voted for whomever their preference was prior to arriving at their respective polling places. That gentleman was unsure of whom he would vote for until he was in the voting booth.
His chief reason for his indecision, he said, was a discomfort with his level of "understanding on the issues." He said that while does not claim to have a deep understanding of the issues some have declared critical in this year's presidential campaign, he is comfortable with the "big picture." What finally swayed him, he said, were his concerns with business issues and the war, "but mostly the war."
While many had trouble pinpointing a specific issue that drove them to their candidate, they were each able to name their biggest concerns. Of the other decision making issues that those surveyed said was the key factor in their vote:
- 7 respondents claimed either the ailing economy or fiscal responsibility was the reason they voted for whom they did;
- 3 said that the candidate's "stance on human life," meaning abortion, was their biggest concern;
- 4 cast their votes based on the "change" factor, which included comments like, "I want some thought in the resident of the White House," and a catch-all "new/younger/smarter/different" man as president;
- 1 cited experience as the important issue, one cited fear of group associations, and one voter basically voted for the man he wanted to, but figured it did not really matter who won "unless they can fix everything in the next two years."
Now, a word about Cobb County demographics. Former speaker of the house and architect of the "Contract with America," Newt Gingrich, was the congressman from this district, and he was followed by Bob Barr, who is this year's Libertarian nominee for president.
Calling Barr's candidacy a "wild-card" in the way Cobbers vote, Politico.com cites Cobb County as one of the "25 key counties to watch" in the United States this election day, based on the following factors:
"Since 1976, GOP presidential nominees have averaged 62 percent in this populous Atlanta suburb. But polls show McCain running considerably behind that clip in Cobb. McCain isn’t a great fit in the socially conservative county, but there is another factor at play in driving down his numbers: Roughly a fifth of the population is African-American."
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