Projo Politics Blog

The Associated Press conducted exit polling in Rhode Island that shows several voter trends:

BUSH FACTOR: Democratic Senate candidate Sheldon Whitehouse had urged voters to express their dissatisfaction with the Bush administration by rejecting Republican incumbent Lincoln Chafee. Early poll results showed about three-quarters of Rhode Island voters disapproved of Bush's job performance, and a large share of those voters broke for Whitehouse.

IRAQ WAR: A large number of voters identified the Iraq War as an important factor driving their decision in the Senate race. The largest group of voters called the war extremely important, and this group voted for Whitehouse. But Chafee seems to have won the majority of voters who only called the war very important or somewhat important.

UNION HOUSEHOLDS: Early results show Whitehouse has made inroads into the union supporters that voted for Chafee six years ago.

MODERATES: Voters who identify themselves as political moderates were leaning toward Whitehouse in larger numbers than in Chafee's last election.

Exit poll conducted for The Associated Press and television networks by Edison Media Research/Mitofsky International among 1,151 voters around Rhode Island as they left 25 randomly selected precincts Tuesday. Margin of sampling error plus or minus 4 percentage points for the overall sample, larger for subgroups.

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