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Kerry's campaign managers believed that Kerry had an advantage on domestic issues. [24] Bush's campaign also focused on increasing voter turnout among conservatives. [25] According to one exit poll, people who voted for Bush cited the issues of terrorism and traditional values as the most important factors in their decision. [26]
Conspiracy theorists argued the election was stolen, arguing that votes were switched from Democratic to Republican, that "phantom voters" voted in Ohio, that exit polls that favored Democrat John Kerry were "more accurate" than the actual result, [48] and that voting machines were rigged to favor George W. Bush. [49]
(Only Bush, Kerry, and Badnarik had ballot access in Arizona.) In the complaint the Arizona Libertarian Party alleged that ASU was "making a donation to two individual campaigns [Bush and Kerry] through the Commission on Presidential Debates as a conduit, in violation of the Arizona Constitution's prohibition on making gifts or donations to ...
On October 8, Kerry and Bush debated at Washington University in St. Louis in a town-hall style debate, with the questions asked by the audience of undecided voters. Polls were split as to who won this debate, as Bush's performance was greatly improved. On October 13, Kerry and Bush debated at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. The ...
Critics have argued that the crux of Bush's campaign was the suggestion that John Kerry would be soft on terrorism in comparison to George Bush, and to present Bush as a "war President". They also claim that the Bush campaign is concerned mainly with personalities rather than tackling ideological issues.
While Bush won 167,397 more votes than in 2000, Kerry lost 2,437. This can be mainly explained by the concerns of suburban moderate voters about terrorism, an issue about which they trusted Bush more than Kerry. Exit polls showed 49% of voters in New York trusted Bush to handle terrorism, as opposed to 42% for Kerry. [7]
Foreign policy was the dominant theme throughout the election campaign, particularly Bush's conduct of the war on terrorism and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Riding Bush's coattails, the Republicans picked up net gains of four Senate seats and three House seats. In the gubernatorial elections, neither party won a net gain of seats.
Polls throughout the campaign indicated that Florida was too close to call, prompting concerns about a repeat of the 2000 fiasco. However, the high popularity of George W. Bush's brother, Republican Governor Jeb Bush, contributed to a relatively comfortable victory for Bush, by a margin of 5% over his Democratic rival, John Kerry.