1.   Balancing this disparity of views, between the general electorate and an important Republican constituency, is one of the biggest challenges facing Dole in the short term.

2.   Aides to both men assert that independents care more about campaign finance than the general electorate.

3.   His stance gives him cachet with disaffected PRI followers and the general electorate.

4.   Polls show women prefer Democratic President Bill Clinton over Dole by wider margins than the general electorate.

5.   Polls in Michigan indicate an extremely close race, with Gore holding a slight edge with the general electorate but Bush gaining ground among independents.

6.   That sort of thing is a tough sell to a general electorate that is rarely in the market for such political excitements.

7.   The men and women in the military, of course, have traditionally been more conservative than the general electorate, especially those in the officer corps.

8.   Whatever problems Mrs. Clinton might have with the general electorate, polling by both sides suggests that she is extraordinarily popular among kind of Democrats who vote in primaries.

9.   But such online polls, even on meaningful topics, are unscientific and reveal nothing about the mood of the general electorate.