Bush outpolled Gore 42 percent to 35 percent. This point is so inexact as to be misleading. Gun control, one of the issues that was supposed to help Gore, turns out to be a double-edged sword in such swing states as Missouri, Washington, and Wisconsin. The environment, another issue on which Gore is supposed to have the advantage, also has a strong regional component to it. True, surveys suggest that a majority of Americans are more closely aligned with the Democrats than with the Republicans on a wide array of issues, including health care, education, and clean water.
Voters think of issues in a broader way than do Washington insiders.
Moreover, when Bush runs on a promise to bring back working bipartisanship to Washington, that is not, strictly speaking, a policy issue at all. Except to voters. This is especially true for swing voters who are, by definition, more moderate than the bases of the respective major parties. They usually do not employ narrowly defined policy issues as litmus tests. Their conclusions in this regard will probably be the key to the outcome on Nov. 7.