Some findings from an Associated Press survey of Maine voters on Election Day:

IRAQ TOP ISSUE: About a quarter of Maine voters listed Iraq is the issue that mattered most in deciding how they would vote for president.

RATING BUSH: Mainers are polarized on Bush’s performance as president, with four of 10 saying they strongly disapprove and about a quarter saying they strongly approve.

CHANGE MATTERS: More than a quarter of the voters said the ability to bring about needed change was the top quality they looked for in choosing a candidate, and nine out of 10 of those voters picked Kerry. “Strong leader” was the second most important quality, and Bush drew nearly nine of 10 votes of those citing that quality.

ARE WE SAFE?: Mainers are about evenly divided on whether the country’s safer from terrorism than it was four years ago. Bush received very strong support from those who see the country as safer, while those who see it as less safe were strongly in favor of Kerry.

GUNS AND POLITICS: A little over half of Maine households own a gun. Bush ran more strongly among those who do, while about two-thirds of non-gun households supported Kerry.

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Exit poll conducted for The Associated Press and television networks by Edison Media Research/Mitofsky International among 1,271 voters as they left 35 randomly selected precincts around Maine on Tuesday. Margin of sampling error plus or minus 4 percentage points for the overall sample, larger for subgroups.

AP-ES-11-02-04 2001EST

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