Poll: Close Race in Battleground States

April 22 -- The 17 potential "battleground" states in 2004 look a lot like the rest of the country in terms of political attitudes. And when it comes to candidate preferences, they live up to their reputation: The presidential race is dead even.

One slight difference is the economy, which is more apt to be cited as the top voting issue in the battleground states (by 31 percent) than elsewhere (24 percent), an ABCNEWS/Washington Post poll shows. It's not a strong issue for President Bush, one he hopes the incipient recovery will improve.

What few differences exist probably can be attributed to a slight bulge in Democrats: 37 percent in these states identify themselves as Democrats, compared with 30 percent elsewhere. There are about equal numbers of Republicans, but fewer independents.

The result is a very close contest — slightly closer than in the rest of the country, though it's close there, too. In a three-way contest among registered voters, Bush has 44 percent support in the battleground states, compared with 50 percent elsewhere. There's less difference (if any, given polling tolerances) in John Kerry's support — 46 percent in the battleground states, 42 percent elsewhere. Ralph Nader is in the mid-single digits.

There are few significant differences, though, on the issues of the day. On most measures, from Iraq to terrorism to the economy to candidate attributes, views in the battleground states look much like those in the rest of the nation.

Nor are there differences along ideological lines. In both groups of states, about one in five Americans are liberals, three in 10 are conservatives and 46 percent are moderates.

Potential Battlegrounds

Most of the 17 states were relatively close in 2000, when Al Gore won the popular vote (and nine of these states), but Bush won the Electoral College. But six of them weren't all that close — decided by five percentage points or more. This year, they're best described as "potential" battlegrounds; some may not be.