Free Republic

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...

The public strongly supports the use of U.N.-authorized multinational force against terrorist threats and genocide, as opposed to unilateral U.S. action, according to a survey by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations. ADVERTISEMENT Since 2002, when the group last conducted a similar survey, fewer poll respondents see international terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and the prospect of enemies acquiring nuclear weapons as "critical threats." For example, two years ago, 83 percent saw the threat of unfriendly countries becoming nuclear powers as critical, compared with 64 percent this July. "An explanation for these declines could be that Americans are discounting the...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Seven months before the election, Democratic Sen. John Kerry has a 12-point lead over Republican President Bush in Minnesota, according to the latest Star Tribune Minnesota Poll. The poll, conducted last week, showed Kerry leading Bush, 50 percent to 38 percent. Independent candidate Ralph Nader had backing from 2 percent of the state's likely voters. The poll carried plenty of potentially troubling news for the president. A majority of voters -- 52 percent -- say the country is pretty seriously off on the wrong track, and one of Bush's biggest problems is that voters perceive him to...