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Nevada
Electoral Votes: 5 (+1 since 2000)
2000 Results: Bush 50%, Gore 46%, Nader 2%
Recent Polls
Zogby International: Bush 50%, Kerry 44%
(Oct. 28-31; margin of error +/- 4.1%
SurveyUSA: Kerry 49%, Bush 49%
(Oct. 28-29; margin of error +/-4.3%)
Mason-Dixon: Bush 50%, Kerry 44%
(Oct. 27-29; margin of error +/-4.0%)
Population: White 65.2%, Hispanic 19.7%, Black 6.6%, Asian 4.4%, Native American 1.1%
Urban Population: 91.6%
Rural: 8.4%
Median Income: $44,581
Unemployment: 4.4%, as of July
Forecast: A lot of new residents have moved in since 2000, but the state is still leaning Bush.
Who could have predicted two years ago that Bush and Kerry would spend time stumping in Nevada? But Nevada is unpredictable. Part of the reason the state keeps swinging back and forth is that more people keep moving in—this has been the fastest growing population for the past 15 years. Most of the state is empty, except for two big population centers: Reno, with Carson City and Lake Tahoe not far away, and Las Vegas, the biggest thing in the state. In 2000, 62% of votes cast in Nevada came from Clark County, home to the Las Vegas strip. While the rest of the state went for Bush in large numbers, Gore won here by 6.5%. Kerry will try to increase that margin and take the state's five electoral votes. As the October deadline for new voter registration passed, more Democrats were registered in the state than Republicans for the first time since 1999. One key issue is Yucca Mountain. Bush has endorsed the idea of putting a national nuclear waste storage site at the location, less than 100 miles away from Vegas. Kerry says he opposes the idea. Another is a minimum wage increase referendum, which some Democrats put on the ballot in an effort to raise low-income voter turnout. Former President Clinton will make a stop in Nevada on the weekend before the election, trying to rally Kerry supporters.
Counties to Watch: Clark
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