Posted on 04/21/2004 11:23:21 AM PDT by pookie18
Kerry leading is news, but not when Bush moves ahead? In early March, when an ABC News/Washington Post poll put Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry ahead of President George W. Bush by 48 to 44 percent amongst registered voters, ABC’s Good Morning America highlighted the finding in two morning news updates. Six weeks later, however, when a new ABC News/Washington Post poll put Bush ahead of Kerry by five points amongst registered voters, 48 to 43 percent, with Ralph Nader at 6 percent, GMA cited some findings in the poll, but not the Bush versus Kerry number.
News reader Robin Roberts read this poll finding during the 8am news update on Tuesday’s GMA: "Most Americans think the U.S. is mired in Iraq, but appear determined to see it through. According to the new ABC News/Washington Post poll, 59 percent think the U.S. is bogged down in Iraq, while 41 percent think we are making good progress. But 52 percent believe the U.S. was right to go to war with Iraq; 46 percent think it was a mistake."
Back on Tuesday, March 9, the MRC’s Jessica Anderson discovered, GMA twice highlighted Kerry’s lead. During the 7am news update, Bob Woodruff announced: "Voters will cast primary ballots in four southern states today. This morning a new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows that John Kerry would beat George Bush if the national election were held today. The margin is narrow, 48 percent to 44 percent. It is a tight race, which means a bit of tough rhetoric on the campaign trail."
An hour later he intoned: "If the presidential election were held today, John Kerry would beat President Bush by a 48 to 44 percent margin, according to latest ABC News/Washington Post poll. Today voters go to polls in four southern states holding primary elections; a total of 465 Democratic delegates are up for grabs."
World News Tonight, by the way, remained consistent, skipping over the Kerry versus Bush numbers in both polls. On Monday night of this week, Jennings buried the big news, that Bush is favored over Kerry in ten of eleven issue areas: “An ABC News-Washington Post poll today finds today that nearly six in ten Americans [59 percent] believe the U.S. is bogged down in Iraq. But two-thirds [66 percent] say the troops should remain there until order is restored, even if it means more casualties. President Bush’s approval rating has remained fairly steady since February. It’s at 51 percent despite the increased violence in Iraq and the quite controversial hearings about 9-11 in Washington. The President is trusted more than the Democratic challenger John Kerry on ten of eleven separate issues, including terrorism and the economy.”
Back on Monday, March 8, Jennings opened World News Tonight: “Good evening, everyone. We begin with the presidential campaign tonight. As our political director put it a while ago, the President and Senator Kerry were going after each other today like it was early season basketball game that had taken on the intensity of a play-off game. As of now, it's a very close race in a very divided country. And an ABC News/Washington Post poll today confirms it. As of now, Mr. Bush is vulnerable on the economy. Only 41 percent of Americans say they trust him to do a better job handling the economy than Mr. Kerry. 57 percent of Americans, however, say they do trust Mr. Bush to do a better job on terrorism. The challenger, Mr. Kerry, was in Florida today, rich with memories for Democrats. The President was in Texas. And the two were beating on each other.”
Online, in a posting headlined “Despite Troubles in Iraq, Poll Finds Presidential Ratings Steady or Rising,” ABC polling expert Gary Langer summarized the highlights of the poll conducted late last week. An excerpt:
Significantly in terms of election politics, economic concerns -- a threat to incumbents -- have eased somewhat, and preference for Kerry across a range of issues -- Iraq, the economy, taxes, health insurance, the deficit, education and others -- has cooled since its peak during the primaries. Last month Kerry led Bush in eight of 11 issues; today he leads in just one of them, health care, and by a narrower margin.
Kerry's lost ground on personal attributes as well, and just 41 percent of Americans believe he "takes a position and sticks with it," a concerted line of attack by the Bush campaign. Bush, meanwhile, retains a large advantage on fighting terrorism, long the wellspring of his support. Overall, with Ralph Nader out of the equation, the race is a dead heat; with him in, it's slightly better for Bush....
More broadly -- among all Americans, not just among those who pick one of these issues as most important to them -- Bush has battled back to parity or better. As noted, in early March, riding high off his primary victories, Kerry led in public trust to handle eight issues out of 11. Today Kerry leads only in trust to handle health care, and by just six points -- compared with a 20-point advantage last month.
In other examples, last month Kerry led Bush by 15 points among all Americans in trust to handle the deficit; today there's just a single point between them. Kerry led by 12 points in trust to handle the economy; today they're even. They were about even on Iraq (Kerry +1); now it's Bush +11. Even on same-sex marriage, a much lower-tier issue, trust has gone from an even split to a 16-point Bush advantage. And Bush's 21-point lead in trust to handle the campaign against terrorism is unchanged....
There are still miles to go before Election Day, but given these changes, it follows that overall vote preferences have shifted slightly. In a three-way match-up, including Ralph Nader, 48 percent of registered voters prefer Bush, 43 percent Kerry, and 6 percent Nader. That's a slight four-point gain for Bush and a five-point loss for Kerry since March.
With Nader removed from the equation, it's 49 percent for Bush, 48 percent for Kerry -- a 50-50 nation.
END of Excerpt
(Excerpt) Read more at mrc.org ...
Katy will have to get her black dress out of dry cleaning. The one she put in 2 days after the SCOTUS ruling in 12/2000.
Yet until the end it will apply the New York Times standard:
All the news that's fit to print
As long as it's of a pinkish tint.
Hey, that is almost the exact wording of the tagline I started using today!
All the news that's fit to print
As long as it's of a pinkish tint.
Are you sure about that? I've always thought it was:
All the news that fits our views. :=)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047775/
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.