In a new ABCNEWS.com poll, 71 percent say the quality of their drinking water is either good or excellent, a tad better than it was about a decade ago. Still, there’s room for improvement. Just 18 percent call it “excellent,” and just over a quarter say it’s not so good or even poor.
     Although the United States claims the world’s safest drinking water, one study this month found that 4.3 million Americans have water containing unsafe pesticides levels, and another reported more than 2,000 cases of illnesses from drinking water in 1997-1998.

Rate Drinking Water
	Positively	Negatively
9/00	71%	27%
6/89	66%	33%

Campaign Issue
Ratings of water quality are high across all demographic groups. It’s one of the few areas where even those with differing political predispositions agree: About seven in 10 Democrats, Republicans and independents alike rate their drinking water positively.
     Still, it’s an issue that does suit Gore. The Democratic presidential candidate’s discussion of water quality plays to his strong advantage on protecting the environment, an issue that has some appeal to the key swing voter group — independents.
     In an ABCNEWS/Washington Post poll earlier this month, about six in 10 independents said protecting the environment was “very important” in their vote. That puts them more in line with Democrats than with Republicans on this issue. And among independents, Gore leads Republican George W. Bush by a huge margin, 66-26 percent, when it comes to protecting the environment.

Environment ‘Very Important’
Democrat	69%
Independent	59%
Republican	38%

Methodology
This ABCNEWS.com survey was conducted by telephone Sept. 13-17 among a random national sample of 1,014 adults. The results have a 3-point error margin. Field work was done by ICR- International Communications Research of Media, Pa.