Columnist Lisa Ferguson: Trends, November 6, 2000

Lisa Ferguson

Monday, Nov. 6, 2000 | 9:19 a.m.

It's in the numbers

Have you had all you can stand of political-poll results yet? Well, on this election eve, we've managed to round up a few more for your reading pleasure. (At least these should be worth some chuckles.)

American women -- 559 of them, in fact -- have decided that it's no contest which potential first lady would best represent the nation's fashions and style. Tipper Gore won that vote by a landslide -- 2-to-1 -- over Laura Bush in the Woolite First Ladies Fashion Poll.

Gore also nailed the "likeability" category: 42 percent of women polled said they'd most like to go shopping with her, as opposed to the 22 percent who opted for an outing with Bush. Three percent named Shelly Ann Buchanan, wife of Independent Party candidate Pat Buchanan.

Who did respondents think was most at ease doing her own laundry? More voted for Gore than Bush. Meanwhile two out of five women characterized Gore as the "machine washable" sort, while 1 percent pegged Bush as "dry clean only." One-third of respondents, however, couldn't decide.

Apathy abounds

Has anyone stopped to ask teenagers how they feel about this year's political race? Actually, Junior Achievement Inc. did.

The Colorado organization "dedicated to educating young people about business, economics and free enterprise," surveyed more than 1,000 eligible and noneligible teen voters and reports that 84 percent of them would vote for a qualified female presidential candidate if one were running. But they'll wait, since two-thirds of them figure the first female president will be elected within the next two decades.

And 51 percent might be more inclined to vote if they could do it from home via the Internet. That, of course, is in addition to the 74 percent of the eligible voters who said they don't plan to vote this year, but would be more likely to do so if given the opportunity on the Web.

Who has the munchies?

Last-minute news flash for the presidential candidates: The way to voters' hearts is not through their stomachs.

This according to T.G.I. Fridays restaurants, which hosted a Campaign 2000 of its own, centered on its menu.

On its website (fridays.com) the company asked folks to vote for a pair of specialty drinks -- the Gentleman Jack Tennessee Tea (in honor of Vice President and Tennessee native Al Gore) and the Lonestar Jalapeno Mary (for Texas Gov. George W. Bush). The VP's drink won 62 percent of the votes.

Meanwhile if they had to share a plate of T.G.I. Fridays' trademark Jack Daniel's Ribs, 32 percent said they'd rather split the rack of ribs with Bush than Gore (22 percent).

And just for fun (we guess), the poll also asked which candidate would last longest on CBS' "Survivor" island. Bush also took top honors in this category (42 percent). Gore placed second (29 percent) with environmental Green Party candidate Ralph Nader (with 23 percent) finishing a close third.