Gibbons wins governorship after riding out scandals

Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2006 | 9 a.m.

Key findings in an exit poll of Nevada voters:

GOVERNOR'S RACE: Republican Rep. Jim Gibbons got the benefit of the doubt over allegations of sexual impropriety Tuesday, eking out a victory in the governor's race after winning nearly half the female vote. He also won about half of men's votes, compared with two of five men who voted for Democratic state Sen. Dina Titus. Gibbons did better among rural Nevada voters and those who support the Iraq war. Both candidates won about eight in 10 votes from their own parties.

SENATE RACE: Republican incumbent Sen. John Ensign won re-election Tuesday, helped by nearly nine in 10 supporters of President Bush and a similar number who approved of the war in Iraq. About seven in 10 voters said the issue of illegal immigration was "very" or "extremely important" to the Senate race and most of them voted for Ensign. Democrat Jack Carter, son of former President Jimmy Carter, received the vote of seven in 10 people who opposed Bush and the war in Iraq. Moderate voters appeared split between the candidates.

REID REVIEW: About half of the voters, approved of the job Sen. Harry Reid was doing, while two of five disapproved, although he's not running for re-election this year.

POST-9/11: About half of Nevadans said the country is safer from terrorism since Sept. 11, 2001.

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Exit poll conducted for The Associated Press and television networks by Edison Media Research/Mitofsky International among 1,726 voters around Nevada, most of them as they left 20 randomly selected precincts Tuesday. A telephone survey also was conducted during the past week among 703 absentee or early voters. Margin of sampling error plus or minus 4 percentage points for the overall sample, larger for subgroups.