But Gore closed the margin, partly by organizing African-American turnout that surpassed Clinton's performances in 1992 and 1996. Clinton received 84 and 83 percent of the black vote, respectively, in those years. Gore scored 90 percent and outstripped Clinton's showing in all the major battleground states. On the other side, critics of Bush can say that if he'd spent less time trying to upset Gore in California and had devoted more time to Florida, he might not be in danger of losing the election. On the other hand, he took on an incumbent party in a time of peace and prosperity and may have scored an Electoral College victory even if he narrowly lost the popular vote.
Exit polls show that the public is divided on the two candidates' issues.
The lesson of the exit polls, and the election, is that there is room for agreements on major issues if elected leaders will try to achieve them.