Only seven percent of all likely voters say the arrest raises serious concern in their minds about whether Bush is qualified to be president, and virtually all of them favor Gore anyway. Almost no Bush supporters—one person in this poll of nearly 700—say it raises serious concern about his qualifications. Indeed, only 16 percent of Gore supporters say so.
     Similarly, just five percent of all likely voters say the report of Bush’s 1976 arrest makes them much less likely to support him, again including one solitary Bush supporter. About as many likely voters, four percent, say it makes them much more likely to vote for him.
     Is it relevant to the campaign? Somewhat more likely voters, 17 percent, say yes. But again they’re almost all Gore supporters, and thus predisposed against Bush. Thirty percent of Gore supporters say it’s relevant; that falls to five percent of Bush supporters.
     These results are in line with past ABCNEWS polling on allegations against political figures. Few people tend to be concerned with misdeeds that occurred long ago and involved personal behavior. What tends to matter far more are current actions, especially ones that involve professional malfeasance.

DUI Opinion Poll Results
	All	Bush Supporters	Gore Supporters
Arrest raises serious concerns	7	<1	16
Much less likely to support Bush	5	<1	10
Think it’s relevant to the campaign	17	5	30

Opinions Run Along Party Lines
The divisions by political party are similar—what concerns do exist appear chiefly among Democrats. Specifically:

Fourteen percent of Democrats say the matter raises serious questions about whether Bush is qualified to be president. That falls to six percent of independents and two percent of Republicans.
Nine percent of Democrats say it makes them much less likely to support Bush; that falls to four percent of independents and one percent of Republicans.
Thirty percent of Democrats call it relevant to the campaign; that falls to 13 percent of independents and five percent of Republicans.

Methodology
This poll was conducted by telephone Nov. 3, 2000, among a random national sample of 697 likely voters. The results have a four-point error margin. ABCNEWS and The Washington Post are sharing data collection for this tracking poll, then independently applying their own models to arrive at likely voter estimates. Field work by TNS Intersearch of Horsham, Pa.

Previous ABCNEWS polls can be found in our Poll Vault.