NEW RI POLL FIGURES SHOW TIGHT SENATE RACE FOR CHAFEE

PROVIDENCE -- Rhode Islanders sympathize with seriously ill people
who want to use marijuana to ease their symptoms, but not child-care
providers who are seeking to unionize.

Those are some of the results of a recent poll by Brown University
Professor Darrell West, who also found a tight early race for U.S.
Senate between incumbent Republican Lincoln Chafee and Democratic
challenger Sheldon Whitehouse. He also found Republican Gov. Donald
Carcieri maintaining a comfortable lead in his re-election bid over
Democratic Lt. Gov. Charles Fogarty.

The survey of 470 registered voters in Rhode Islanders was conducted
in the last week of June and has a margin of error of plus or minus
4.5 percent.

Sixty-seven percent of those polled said they favor legislation to
legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes, 22 percent said
they were opposed and only 9 percent said they did not know or gave no answer.

Both chambers of the General Assembly have approved legislation that
would permit people with certain serious diseases or ailments, but it
was vetoed by Carcieri, who said the rules crafted are too loose and
will allow children greater access to the illegal drug. The Senate
has voted to override the governor's veto and the House is expected
to do the same within the next several weeks.

The governor is faring much better in the court of public opinion,
according to West's findings.

Not only is Carcieri holding a 48-39 percent lead over Fogarty, his
only announced opponent, but he has a 55-34 percent lead among
independent voters. His job approval rating is also holding steady at
57 percent saying Carcieri is doing an excellent (21 percent) or good
(36) job with 40 percent saying he is doing and only fair (25) or
poor (15) job.

That 57 percent approval, West said, "is very good for someone in the
third year of his term."

If there is a concern for Carcieri, it's in the 43 percent of Rhode
Islanders who think the state is on the right track as opposed to the
44 percent who say it is going in the wrong direction. Those numbers,
West explained, mean that Ocean Staters believe that "the economy is
still soft and people are a little worried, but they haven't tied
that issue to the governor."

The governor is winning on some issues he has claimed as his own, however.

When asked whether the state should have to negotiate pay and working
conditions with home-based providers who provide state-subsidized
child care for low-income families, however, only 36 percent said
yes, and 51 percent said no. Ten percent gave no answer.

The state legislature also passed a bill to allow the child care
providers to unionize and Carcieri has vetoed that as well. But
prospects for an override are less clear on the child care bill,
which passed with fewer than the three-fifths vote required to
override the governor's objection.

"The newspaper headlines were not positive for the child care
workers," West said when asked about the numbers in his poll. "It's
been continuing and public opinion tilted against them. People don't
favor unionization." He noted that Carcieri played a lead role in
mobilizing public opinion by making the child care unionization one
of his principal issues.

Carcieri also got a 55 percent ratification from those polled on his
pension reform effort, specifically for setting a minimum retirement
age for new state workers and public school teachers. Thirty-two
percent said they are opposed and 11 percent had no answer. cent with
12 percent declining to answer.

In the closely-watched early race for the U.S. Senate, West's poll
finds Whitehouse within five percentage points of Chafee, 41 to 36
percent. Chafee does better against Democratic Secretary of State
Matt Brown, scoring 44 percent to Brown's 29 percent.

Poll results at this point in a race - the Senate election won't be
held until November, 2006 - can be important to a candidate's flow of
money, West said.

"A survey provides a snapshot of a point in time that fund-raisers
take seriously," West told The Times. "If someone is doing well, he
or she will find it easier to raise money, if not, they will have a
tougher sales job."

West said this poll signals a competitive race.