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Bush Still Leads
By Matt Margolis | September 25, 2004
Kerry might be scaling up his attacks and campaign rhetoric but he has yet to make a dent in Bush’s lead.
President Bush solidified his advantage among men during the last month and holds his highest ratings since January on job performance, the economy and Iraq, according to an Associated Press poll.
Bush has a 7-point lead over Sen. John Kerry - 52 percent to 45 percent among likely voters - in the AP-Ipsos survey less than six weeks before the Nov. 2 election. Independent Ralph Nader was backed by 1 percent.
The president held the advantage despite increasing violence in Iraq and a week of attacks on his Iraq policy by an increasingly combative Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee.
“We took a lead after our convention and the lead has held,” said Matthew Dowd, a senior Bush campaign strategist. Bush has a slight lead in some polls, and is running even in others.
Among registered voters, Bush leads Kerry 51 percent to 42 percent, while Nader had the backing of 2 percent.
Since the Republican convention, Bush’s job approval is up, 54 percent among likely voters, and just over half of them approve of his handling of the economy and Iraq. His approval in all three areas is as high as it’s been all year in the polling conducted for the AP by Ipsos-Public Affairs.
Bush is also polling better this year amongst women:
With time running out, Kerry has much important work to do in his campaign, the AP-Ipsos poll suggested.
Bush holds a 17-point lead among men. And Bush and Kerry are tied among women, a traditionally Democratic group that now favors Bush on protecting the country.
Democrat Al Gore won the women’s vote by 11 percentage points in 2000, while Bush won men by a similar margin.
Betsy Bodenhamer, a 33-year-old teacher’s aide and mother of two from Galesburg, Ill., says she has always voted for Democrats in recent presidential elections. This year, she’s leaning toward Bush.
“I think if Kerry gets elected, he’s going to pull everybody out of Iraq and they’ll have to fend for themselves,” she said. “Situations like 9/11 will happen again and again.”
Things continue to look good for Bush. John Kerry might say he’s now in a “fighting mood,” but he’s swinging without making any contact…
Topics: Election 2004, General |
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September 26th, 2004 at 1:24 pm
It sounds like Betsy needs some education. Iraq and 9/11 are two separate issues…
despite Bush’s attempts to relate the two after he attacked, the 9/11 commission and other sources have rebuffed his arguments.
Also, we were not attacked, because we made the terrorists “fend for themselves.” That’s ridiculous!
Finally, things like 9/11 are indeed still happening, Betsy. Read about what’s happening in iraq. Remember spain, indonesia…?
October 9th, 2004 at 9:36 am
marshall, when was the last attack by terrorists on U.S. soil? The attempt by Kerry and his sycophants to paint Iraq as another Vietnam is pathetic at best. The spin you’re throwing out is only believed by the BushHaters/Kerry camp followers.
Sorry, I’m not drinking the Kerry Kool-Aid. Even if it comes in new “orange” flavor.