Top 10: Most liked Comic name Love it  Hate it FoxTrot 3,478 310 For Better or For Worse 3,477 550 Dilbert 3,442 526 Mother Goose and Grimm 3,199 492 Zits 3,166 561 Bizarro 3,054 676 Peanuts (classic) 2,902 565 Non Sequitur 2,780 593 Blondie 2,734 560 Born Loser 2,710 626 Bottom 10: Least liked Comic Love it  Hate it Mary Worth 626 2,239 Rex Morgan, M.D 712 2,082 Cathy 1,348 1,785 Prince Valiant 1,220 1,746 The Amazing Spider-Man 890 1,497 The Boondocks 1,762 1,460 Get Fuzzy 1,377 1,428 Doonesbury 2,430 1,242 Family Circus 2,319 1,202 Sally Forth 1,703 1,154 More results See additional data from the comics survey. "Dilbert" (C) Scott Adams, Inc. Distributed by UFS, Inc.; "FoxTrot" (C) Bill Amend, above and left. Used by permission of Universal Press Syndicate. All rights reserved.; "Mother Goose and Grimm" (C) 2006 Grimmy Inc. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.; Danae from the comic strip "Non Sequitur"; Wiley. Used by permission of Universal Press Syndicate. All rights reserved. DANAE FROM THE COMIC STRIP "NON SEQUITUR"

No negative campaigning.

No money spent on nasty political ads.

No wonder, since we're talking about the Post-Gazette's just-concluded comics survey and not last Tuesday's election.

Your votes have been counted and, by a whisker, "FoxTrot" reigns supreme as your favorite comic strip. And that's quite an accomplishment considering more than 5,500 of you participated in the online survey (or by mail), registering nearly 230,000 votes overall.

Each of the 42 strips (including Sunday, daily and sample strips published during the hiatus of "The Boondocks") required a vote from participants, who could choose from one of three options: love it, hate it, don't care.

But judging from the number of votes cast, that last category was almost immaterial. It seems as if everyone takes the funny pages seriously.

"FoxTrot," with more than 63 percent of its votes falling in the "love it" category, topped "For Better or for Worse" (by a single vote), "Dilbert," "Mother Goose and Grimm," "Zits," "Bizarro," classic "Peanuts," "Non Sequitur," "Blondie" and "Born Loser."

"Mary Worth" led our bottom 10 list, followed by "Rex Morgan, M.D.," "Cathy," "Prince Valiant," "The Amazing Spider-Man," "The Boondocks" "Get Fuzzy," "Doonesbury," "Family Circus" and "Sally Forth."

The dislike for "Mary Worth" crossed gender and age lines. The strip came in last overall with male and female voters and in all the demographic groups except the 55-and-older segment, where only "Get Fuzzy" received more "hate it" votes.

" 'Mary Worth' has become vacuous, insipid and repetitive in recent years," William Ghrist of Highland Park wrote in an e-mail. "You should can it and bring back 'Judge Parker.' "

The sometimes politically controversial "Doonesbury" had its own detractors, such as Bob Kenny of Murrysville, who said of Garry Trudeau's strip, "[It] was sort of funny 25 years ago, but it is so dated! 'Blondie' somehow continues to hold together."

The demographics of the survey proved interesting. Nearly as many women (2,689) participated as men (2,780), but "Dilbert" topped the male vote while "For Better or for Worse" was the leading vote-getter among females.

"Dilbert" also finished No. 1 with voters 31-54, the age group that provided the largest block of voters. The 55-and-older group followed, choosing "For Better or for Worse." The 18-30 and 17-and-under age groups had "FoxTrot" at the top of their lists.

As for snail mail voting, the top three strips were "Mutts," "For Better or for Worse" and "Zits," while "Get Fuzzy" was the least favorite, followed by "Opus" and "Doonesbury."

Many readers took the survey as an opportunity to cast their votes for strips not currently carried in the Post-Gazette. They ranged from "Rose Is Rose" and "Lola" to "Monty," "The Duplex" and "Sherman's Lagoon."

The Post-Gazette has sampled a number of new strips over the past few months in place of "The Boondocks" (which, by the way, finished in the bottom 10). Of those test strips, "Baby Blues" fared the best, while "Watch Your Head" was the least popular. Those samples also scored a lot of "don't care" votes, with "Watch Your Head" and "Soup to Nutz" leading the pack. (The sample strips will continue running in the daily Magazine through Nov. 25, after which a permanent replacement for "Boondocks" will be published.)

Some survey participants openly yearned for strips previously carried by the Post-Gazette but long since removed from the comic pages. Fans asked for the return of "Zippy," "Piranha Club" and "Judge Parker."

So what happens now? The survey results will be a primary factor -- although not the sole determinant -- in helping the Post-Gazette decide what changes will be made to the comics.

You'll see it all unfold in the funny pages!