Colorado Elections Essay, Research Paper

Colorado s Presidential Elections

I was assigned to research the 2000 presidential elections in Colorado. Colorado is a state where Republicans outnumber Democrats. Colorado has 2.8 million voters, have that approximately one million are Republicans; 967,500 are unaffiliated; 842,000 are Democrats; and the rest belong to minor parties. According to many surveys done in the past five weeks in this state, Texas Gov. George Bush is ahead of Vice President Al Gore by approximately nine percent. After George Bush s 24-year-old drunken-driving arrest the polls showed a brief tightening in the gap between George Bush and Al Gore in Colorado. Despite this George Bush continues to have the lead.

Colorado ballot proposals have Coloradoans talking about guns and growth, pot and power ball, abortion, school funding and taxes cuts for everyone. Amendment 22 would require background checks on all gun show costumers, this grew out of the columbine high school massacre. This amendment has the support of Republican Gov. Bill Owens and more than half-million dollars in donation. Amendment 21 will cut taxes, amendment 23 would provide extra school funding, and amendment 24 is a growth control measure.

In Colorado s interests George Bush and Al Gore stand on opposite sides. Abortion is one of the issues in where they differ. Gore supports abortion rights while Bush opposes abortion except in cases of rape, incest or to safe a woman s life.

Education is one of the primary concerns of many states. In Colorado there are expectations for student achievements. Democrats feel Colorado s schools are among the least adequately funded in the nation. They believe they need to reduce class sizing and the teacher will have to provide more individual attention to the students. Republicans believe that Democrats are concentrating too much on the environmental aspect of education while Bush wants to spend money to train teachers to diagnose and correct reading problems in young children. The polls in Colorado showed that Bush did better than Gore on education. Bush got 45% while Gore got 36% on improving education.

On taxes Governor Bush believes that roughly one quarter of the surplus should be returned to the people who earned it through broad tax cuts. His plan will promote economic growth and increase access in the middle class by cutting high marginal. The largest percentage cuts will go to the lowest income earners. As a result six million families will no longer pay federal income tax. Gore believes that tax cut will promote economic growth and encourage savings. It will fit within a responsible budget framework, one that ensures America is debt free by 2012, saves Social Security, and strengthens Medicare.

In conclusion, the presidential elections are very close. Coloradoans who will vote can drastically change the states future. The majority of voters in Colorado are voting for Texas Gov. George Bush. They feel that he is the appropriate one to become president.