Final answer:
The estimate for the proportion of voters planning to vote for John Kerry is approximately 48.95% based on the given sample.
Step-by-step explanation:
In a sample of 976 likely voters, 478 said they planned to vote for John Kerry. To find the proportion of the sample that planned to vote for John Kerry, we can use the formula:
p^ = Number of voters for John Kerry / Total number of voters in the sample
Substituting the given values:
p^ = 478 / 976 ≈ 0.4895
Therefore, the estimate for p^ (proportion of voters planning to vote for John Kerry) is approximately 0.4895 or 48.95%.