Uh-oh! By Brian Braiker Newsweek Updated: 6:04 p.m. ET Oct. 2, 2004Oct. 2 - With a solid majority of voters concluding that John Kerry outperformed George W. Bush in the first presidential debate on Thursday, the president’s lead in the race for the White House has vanished, according to the latest NEWSWEEK poll. In the first national telephone poll using a fresh sample, NEWSWEEK found the race now statistically tied among all registered voters, 47 percent of whom say they would vote for Kerry and 45 percent for George W. Bush in a three-way race. Removing Independent candidate Ralph Nader, who draws 2 percent of the vote, widens the Kerry-Edwards lead to three points with 49 percent of the vote versus the incumbent’s 46 percent. Four weeks ago the Republican ticket, coming out of a successful convention in New York, enjoyed an 11-point lead over Kerry-Edwards with Bush pulling 52 percent of the vote and the challenger just 41 percent. Among the three-quarters (74 percent) of registered voters who say they watched at least some of Thursday’s debate, 61 percent see Kerry as the clear winner, 19 percent pick Bush as the victor and 16 percent call it a draw. After weeks of being portrayed as a verbose “flip-flopper” by Republicans, Kerry did better than a majority (56 percent) had expected. Only about 11 percent would say the same for the president’s performance while more than one-third (38 percent) said the incumbent actually did worse that they had expected. Thirty-nine percent of Republicans felt their man out-debated the challenger but a full third (33 percent) say they felt Kerry won. Kerry’s perceived victory may be attributed to the fact that, by a wide margin (62 percent to 26 percent), debate watchers felt the senator came across as more confident than the president. More than half (56 percent) also see Kerry has having a better command of the facts than Bush (37 percent). As a result, the challenger’s favorability ratings (52 percent, versus 40 percent unfavorable) are better than Bush’s, who at 49 percent (and 46 percent unfavorable), has dipped below the halfway mark for the first time since July. Kerry, typically characterized as aloof and out of touch by his opponents, came across as more personally likeable than Bush (47 percent to the president’s 41 percent). (more on the webpage) ------ Apparently, some minds changed.
Wow, me too. This is much better than I expected... very encouraging. I hope it lasts. Whether it lasts or not, going into this debate, few people, Democrats or Republicans, thought there would be this degree of change towards the Democrat. Kerry needed to give the majority of Americans, who are wanting a change, a reason to vote for him. He most definitely made some headway. Keep D&D Civil!!
Polling is flawed. National polling for this election, which will be decided in the 20 battleground states, is also beyond silly.
Tuesday: Cheney vs Pretty Boy !!! The gloves are coming off. Watch the old man take the young pup to the shed. (I have no idea what that means.)
This should be a real contest. Cheney is a master at media. Edwards is one of the best trial lawyers in recent years to ever go into politics. If Edwards doesn't chicken out , abandons the whole smiliey guy thing, and goes after the old Halliburton guy it could be very hard for Cheney. However, unlike Bush, Cheney can really be a tough debater and won't get flustered just because he is challenged. Cheney really handled Lieberman last time.
it would seem as those this would be a bounce that would go or come quickly.. as in.. if bush wins the next debate these people will all swtich back?
Karl Rove does not want Cheney to look too good and look like he is charge of the white as alleged. It will sure be interesting to see how tamed Dick will be. Unless something outrageous happens, this Tuesday's debate won't do much more than fill up airtime. Truly the next debate is the town hall style between JFK and GWB on Friday (10-8-04) @ 8pm CST (I am not sure about the time). The issues will be centered mainly on domestic. Can't wait. Just make sure to watch the C-span feed so that you can enjoy the infamous split screen.
Cheney is mean and old and unlikable. Edwards is good looking and outgoing and a great public speaker. It is to bad that most people don't care to look too closely at the VP debate. I know I won't.
Although the national polls say one thing, a poll for Ohio from the Columbus Dispatch has Bush taking a larger lead 51% to 44%. I'll be interested to see how PA and FL look.
As a point in reference the prior Cols Dispatch poll (8/29/04) had it s deadlock at 46% for both Bush and Kerry.
