Kansans show they’re satisfied with Bush

? With notable consistency across gender, income and age groups, Kansans translated their satisfaction with President Bush and the decision for war with Iraq into votes for the Republican incumbent Tuesday.

Republicans made up about half of those who went to the polls, and Bush captured all but a handful of their votes, according to an exit poll conducted for The Associated Press. He edged Democrat John Kerry among the roughly one-fifth who called themselves independent or members of other parties.

Bush even took about one in six votes cast by Democrats, who accounted for less than a third of all Kansas voters.

The president’s margins mirrored Kansans’ comfort with his job performance and their ratings of their own financial situations. About two-thirds of all voters said they approved of the way he was handling his job, with a similar number approving of the U.S. decision to go to war.

Most also said their families’ financial situations were unchanged or had improved from four years ago, according to the poll of 654 Kansas voters conducted for AP and television networks by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International. Results were subject to sampling error of plus or minus 6 percentage points, higher for subgroups.

“I feel he’s done a fairly good job up to this point,” said Bush voter Joshua Cathey, 22, who is studying physics and German at Washburn University in Topeka. “I just feel more comfortable with him.”

His fellow Democrats aside, Kerry prevailed with just one other group: the roughly one-fourth of voters whose financial situations have worsened since 2000.

“I’m worse off than I was four years ago. I think I should give someone else a chance,” said Diane Macheda, 52, a tax examiner from Overland Park. “Some of the things this administration has done have scared me.”

The prospect of change — rather than support for the Democratic challenger — drove a majority of those who voted for Kerry. Only one-fourth of Kerry’s voters said they voted mainly for the Massachusetts senator, while more than half said they were voting against Bush.

“We need a change. I don’t like the way things are going,” said Topeka voter Margaret Dahlstrom, a 78-year-old retired nurse.

Overview Unofficial election results Douglas County precinct map Election Day 2004 feedbacktext Kids Voting ResultsCounty Democrat unseats D.A. of 8 years Former mayor defeats Buhler in Senate race Embattled district judge stays on bench McElhaney survives short-lived deficit Record number of voters cast their ballots in county Douglas County kids choose Kerry Politicians, supporters share ‘crazy’ election-night revelry Voters approve Perry-Lecompton bond issue Township lacks candidatesState Moore fends off another challenge Ryun wins contentious 2nd District Congress seat Brownback easily defends his U.S. Senate seat Holland inches past GOP challenge Pine takes 3rd District Senate seat Wagnon wins State Board of Education race Seven incumbents lose; GOP pads majority in House Voters deny sales tax for K.C. arena Bush wins Kansas handily Kansans show they’re satisfied with Bush Counties see high voter turnout Election briefsNational Too close to call President ‘upbeat’ on election returns Kerry sentimental as race nears end Analysis: Emotions guided presidential voting Networks use care in reporting results New media throw caution to the wind Presidential race prompts late selloff State by state results: Midwest State by state results: West State by state results: Northeast State by state results: South California backs stem-cell research Voters in 11 states approve gay-marriage bans GOP wins key states in South World riveted by U.S. electionMultimediaphoto Photo Gallery: Election Day 2004 6News video: Dennis Moore wins in a ‘landslide’ 6News video: Dennis Moore victory speech 6News video: Bob Johnson wins 2nd District County Commission position 6News video: Paula Gilchrist presumed Douglas County Treasurer 6News video: Ken McGovern wins sheriff’s office 6News video: Jere McElhaney on the 3rd District Commissioner seat 6News video: Penrod optimistic about Douglas County Clerk position 6News video: Ermeling hopeful in 3rd District Commissioner race 6News video: Francisco likely to win 2nd Districtphoto Barbara Ballard talks about younger voters and their importance in this election.photo Barbara Ballard talks about being in Lawrence and Kansas on election night.photo Paul Davis talks about the importance of this election to the Kansas Democrats.photo Paul Davis chooses his most important race in Kansas.photo Paul Davis talks about the feeling among other Democrats in Kansas.photo Gov. Kathleen Sebelius addresses the crowd at Abe ‘N Jakes Landing.