GAMBLING ISSUE FACES UPHILL CLIMB

Nearly half the voters who responded to the Southeast Missourian exit poll during Tuesday's election said they would have voted against allowing riverboat gambling in the city.

Forty-nine percent of the 327 respondents said they would have voted "no" if the riverboat gambling issue had been on the ballot. Forty-one percent said they would have voted "yes" and nearly 11 percent were undecided.

Peter Gordon, a Southeast Missouri State University marketing professor who analyzed the poll results, contrasted the findings with a phone poll conducted during the election last fall. He said they represent an erosion of support for gambling.

A poll conducted by six Southeast Missouri newspapers prior to the November general election found that 47.2 percent of voters favored and 45.7 percent opposed riverboat gambling, with 7 percent undecided.

In that election, Cape Girardeau County voters narrowly opposed the riverboat gambling ballot issue that passed statewide. The Cape Girardeau County vote was 13,594 against and 13,506 for.

Cape Girardeau city voters will decide in June whether to allow riverboat gambling in the city itself.

In the poll conducted Tuesday, the "yes" and "no" votes were about equal in the Washington and May Greene schools districts, while all other districts voted "no."

Gordon said one deduction would be that the city's less affluent voters favor gambling more than voters in other areas.

He also spotted a weak trend that "no" votes on the bond and building maintenance issues translated into likely "no" votes on riverboat gambling.

But "yes" voters on the school bond issue also opposed riverboat gambling, though by a smaller margin.

Men supported gambling by a 48-44 percent margin with 8 percent undecided. Women opposed gambling 53-34 percent, with 13 percent undecided.