This remains a highly debatable point. A full, fair, and accurate count of all the votes in Florida was never done, by ANY study, independant or otherwise, so we will never know with any certainty whatsoever what the result might have been. I have also heard other analysts insist that Gore would have won, if in fact all the votes were counted and "every effort to ascertain the voter's intent" was in good faith made.

I'll also offer you this, from Kevin Phillips' "American Dynasty":


"Should the restorationist, getting-even type of conservatism that has characterized the George W. Bush administration be a major issue in 2004, or continue through an additional term in 2005-8, the incumbent could also face renewed questions of legitimacy. War conduct aside, there remains the haunting memory of the 2000 election and the suspended Florida recount, in which the U.S. Supreme Court by a 5-4 vote awarded dubious victory to the contender finishing second in the national popular vote.

Any souring public perception of Bush's motives in invading Iraq could revitalize an underlying legitimacy issue. Evidence that 9/11 itself might not have happened if the Bushes had not had so many close, embarrassing, and constraining ties to the Saudis could be a dangerous wedge. Indeed, in a legitimacy sense, 9/11 was a godsend to Bush. As chapter 3 discussed, many serious observers believe that the media consortium recounting the 2000 Florida election undervotes and overvotes abandoned the latter part of the recount in September 2001 for reasons of procedural patriotism- a clear Gore victory through countable overvotes would have severly damaged Bush's legitimacy at a time when an embattled, just-attacked United States could not have afforded that kind of division.

Even though the members of the media consortium have not admitted such motivation, public opinion polls have continued to report that 35 to 40 percent of Americans decline to call Bush a legitimately elected president. In August 2003, a CBS/ New York Times poll put the figure at 38 percent. A particularly difficult circumstance for Bush would be a Middle Eastern policy failure that rubbed raw the legitimacy issue and persuaded the media consortium to reopen the overvote question."

And I remind the reader that Kevin Phillips is far from a left wing extremist. He was an advisor and strategist under Richard Nixon, and is a leading authority on conservatism and the Republican party.