Kerry numbers slip on domestic issues - Pew poll

Union Leader ^ | 3/30/04 | Will Lester

[kattracks]

WASHINGTON (AP) - Although President Bush has been battered by a former aide's claim that he did nothing to counter the al-Qaida threat before the Sept. 11 attacks, a poll released Monday finds American voters still consider Bush far stronger than Democratic rival John Kerry in defending the country against terrorism.

Kerry, the target of critical ads from the Bush-Cheney team, has lost ground on domestic issues, according to findings from a poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

Bush held the advantage on which candidate would do a better job of defending the country from terrorist attacks by 53 percent for Bush to 29 percent for Kerry. That's about the same advantage Bush had on protecting the country earlier this month in a Pew poll.

The former chief of counterterrorism for the White House, Richard Clarke, testified before the Sept. 11 commission last week. Clarke also appeared on several news programs to promote a book in which he criticizes the Bush administration's response to warnings of potential threats and to the Sept. 11 attacks, including the war in Iraq.

The administration mounted a fierce rebuttal that questioned Clarke's motives and honesty.

The public is about evenly divided on whether it believes Clarke or Bush administration officials, according to a new CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll.

Recent polls have found that public approval of Bush's handling of the campaign against terror has dropped from more than two-thirds in January to more than half now.

"The allegations have raised doubts in people's minds," Pew Research Center Director Andrew Kohut said, "but it hasn't affected their bottom-line attitudes. It hasn't affected their voting intentions."

The two remain in a virtual tie in a head-to-head matchup - 47 percent for Kerry and 46 percent for Bush. When independent Ralph Nader is in the mix, the two remain tied, while Nader gets 6 percent.

Swing voters in the Pew poll were increasingly uncertain who they thought could best handle the terrorist threat. In a survey before Clarke's allegations were made public, almost three-fourths of swing voters said Bush was strong on handling terrorism. Now that number is half of swing voters who say Bush is stronger on terrorism.

On the issue of jobs, Kerry's advantage over Bush shrank from an advantage of almost 20 points in the Pew poll in mid-March to eight points, 45-37, in the new survey. On the issue of health care, Kerry's advantage over Bush on who could best handle the issue shrank from 28 points to 13 points.

The shift in Kerry's support on those issues is probably caused mostly by Kerry's lower profile since the end of the Democratic primary campaign, Kohut said.

The Pew poll of 1,501 adults, including 1,168 registered voters, was taken March 22-28 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, slightly larger for subgroups like registered voters.

[kattracks]

USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll results (Daschle is deeply saddened)

[drhogan]

i think kerry has already lost this election.

[squidly]

yep

[onyx]

Despite Kerry's free ride from the fawning media,
Bush's numbers are advancing, not JF Kerry's.

[kattracks]

I was reading an article recently, where Kerry's team claimed the public really hadn't had a chance to get to know Kerry.

Well, it looks as though they are getting to know him now, and they don't like what they see.

[MEG33]

I just heard a soundbite of Kerry droning on.He has all the charisma of a flat tire.

[Allegra]

I like articles that have the words "Kerry," "slip" and "polls" in the headlines. :)

[kattracks]

Domestic issues sounds good too.

That's supposed to be Kerry's strong point.

[patriciamary]

Sorry to say this, but I'm still very worried Bush is going to lose this election

[TimPatriot]

Kerry could suck the life out of a soccer riot.

[MEG33]

LOL!

[goldstategop]

John F. Seinfeld has actually plummeted 16 POINTS in 40 days!!! Talk about a complete collapse of support in slightly more than a month! This is from Hugh Hewitt's blog:

WHOA: THAT'S NOT A DROP, THAT'S A PLUMMET: The new CNN/Gallup/USAToday poll shows an extraordinary thing --a swing away from John Kerry of 16 points in 40 days. At the conclusion of the polling on February 17, 2004, Kerry was ahead of Bush in this poll by 12 points. Today's poll shows Bush ahead by 4. I cannot recall any kind of rapid collapse of support for a nominee since I have been closely following these elections, which is to say since 1976. Recall, it is the same polling firm using the same methodology. No wonder Kerry is cussing out the Secret Service. His pollsters have to be seeing the same thing, and John Kerry does not appear to be the sort of person to accept bad news gracefully. UPDATE: EVEN MORE BAD POLLING DATA FOR CURSES JOHN KERRY: Pew asked the question "Which candidate will do a better job defending the country from a terrorist attack.?" Answqer: Bush, 53%, Kerry 29%.

If Seinfeld's numbers are like this barely two weeks after he goes on vacation, what are they going to look like in seven months time? You can see the Democrats are not too happy with the news in these most recent polls.

[binger]

[barker]

Former President Bush will go skydiving on his 80th birthday like he did on his 70th and 75th. Not to be out done Kerry will take a nose dive.

[Hardastarboard]

Not trying to be a smart a$$ here, but did you ever really have any doubt? He's walking around talking about the UN protecting us, for G-d's sake. Even those who aren't paying attention have a pretty good idea how well they've done in Kosovo and other world hot spots at that game.

[tkathy]

I remain convinced that there was massive voter fraud in the 2000 election. The dims are so bitter because they never lose a close election.

[JamesA]

And may he continue to slide down the slippery slopes.

[magua]

And the media is having a high tech lynching of Condi Rice which may be back firing.

[Poohbah]

I just heard a soundbite of Kerry droning on.He has all the charisma of a flat tire.

You've just defamed flat tires.

[Poohbah]

Sorry to say this, but I'm still very worried Bush is going to lose this election.

As Jesus commanded us many times, "Do not worry."

Yeah, Bush can still lose this election by being a bigger doofus than Kerry is--but Kerry's in a class all by himself on that one, so if Kerry's the nominee, Bush is safe. The other way Bush can lose is if he goes ballistic on Kerry before the convention, and Kerry defers to Hillary.

Bush is barely campaigning right now--with good reason.