Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
John Daley ReportingWith Election Day now behind us, Utahns rank one issue at the top of the list for President Bush and the new Congress to address.
The latest KSL-TV/Deseret Morning News poll numbers from Dan Jones and Associates show no surprise at all. The number one issue is the war.
Utahns, by a large margin, rank it as a "very high priority." On just what to do, though, there's less agreement.
When voters went to polls last week, they swept out Republican majorities in Congress, tipping them Democratic for the first time in 12 years.
When asked what are the priority issues the President and Congress should now pursue, most people we spoke to today didn't hesitate.
Randy Slekitis/ Salt Lake City Resident: "Iraq."
Dave Naslund/ Salt Lake City Resident: "The war and the economy. Basically, stopping this deficit spending. This is insane."
Ron Moore/ Salt Lake City Resident: "We need a foreign policy that's not going to cost us so many lives. I've lost a lot of friends in the wars here, and it's starting to take a toll."
Priorities
War in Iraq 63%
Health care 40%
Economy 37%
Immigration reform 36%
Social Security 35%
In a new Dan Jones/KSL-TV/Deseret Morning News poll of 416 Utahns, a solid majority rank the war as a "very high priority," followed by health care, the economy, immigration and social security.
What to do?
Set a date and get out 33%
Stay until complete victory 54%
Other 8%
Don't know 5%
When asked what to do, 33% agree with the basic Democratic position, which is to set a date and start reducing troops. 54% support the President's course of staying until the U.S. claims complete victory.
Ron Moore/ Salt Lake City Resident: "It's winnable. It's a solvable situation. It's when the people of Iraq are going to step up and do the jobs themselves is the problem."
Wayne Wozab/ West Valley City Resident: "We should get out right now. Today. Yesterday. Get out. I mean, how many people have got to die, for what?"
Ty King/ Denver, CO Resident: "I don't think anybody's got a really great strategy yet. Everybody on one side or the other says, 'Yeah, we need to do this, we need to do that.' I'm just not sure if anybody really has the plan together. I guess I'd be interested to see what people come up with."
Iraq will likely be a key issue in the next presidential race. This week,John McCain began taking official steps towards a possible run.
Randy Slekitis/ Salt Lake City Resident: "McCain. He's not a bad man. He's not a bad man. He's a man I would vote for."
President '08?
Mitt Romney 44%
John McCain 15%
Rudolph Gulianni (R) 7%
Hillary Clinton 7%
Condoleezza Rice (R) 6%
Barak Obama (D) 5%
Our poll finds McCain in the top two in Utah, ahead of Guiliani, Clinton and others, but way behind former 2002 Olympic boss Mitt Romney.
One of the nation's leading political scientists here in Utah last week sees the current Massachusetts governor as a formidable candidate.
Larry Sabato/ Univ. of Virginia Political Science Professor: "Romney is a charismatic guy. He's very articulate. He's got a pretty good record in Massachusetts. He even has something that could appeal to moderates on the health issue side. So when you look at the package, it's pretty strong. He can raise a lot of money."
Barely registering on the poll was John Kerry at 3%.
The highest number after Romney and McCain was DON'T KNOW at 10%, which I guess tells you something. But November '08 is still a long ways away.
