AP: Many Voters Still Undecided in Iowa, New Hampshire

[flpoljunkie]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1991-2003Dec15.html

Many Voters Still Undecided in Iowa, N.H.


By MIKE GLOVER and HOLLY RAMER
The Associated Press
Monday, December 15, 2003; 12:45 PM

Countless other voters are unsure of their preference ahead of the Iowa caucuses Jan. 19 and the New Hampshire primary Jan. 27. The latest poll from the Pew Research Center shows 17 percent of primary voters in each state do not yet know which politician they will support.

Given the large field, it is not unusual for voters to be undecided in mid-December. The Democratic Party, out of power in Congress, lacks a clear national leader to rally the effort to unseat President Bush.

"There's no shadow chancellor or shadow prime minister. It's hard to find out who the leader of the party is," Drake University political science professor Dennis Goldford said. "These guys have been doing yeoman's work in putting in time and effort here, but nobody's run away with it."

Moreover, those who say they back one candidate today could change their mind over the next several weeks. Candidates trailing former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who holds a double-digit lead in New Hampshire surveys and is in a tight race with Rep. Dick Gephardt in Iowa, take heart in that possibility and the notion that nearly one in five votes is up for grabs.

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