Kerry, Bush Are Tied in Presidential Race, Harris Poll Says
quote.bloomberg.com
Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry are tied among likely voters, a Harris poll says. More than half the voters also say they disapprove of Bush's performance in office, according to the poll.
Kerry, 60, and Bush, 58, each had 47 percent of the vote, with independent candidate Ralph Nader, 70, getting 3 percent, according to the telephone survey of 1,012 adults conducted Aug. 10-15. The nationwide poll by Rochester, New York-based Harris Interactive Inc. has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Bush led Kerry, a four-term senator from Massachusetts, by 10 points, 51 percent to 41 percent in June, which Harris attributed to ``a blip caused by the good feeling surrounding'' former President Ronald Reagan, who died June 5. Bush led by 3 points, 46 percent to 43 percent in April, according to the Harris poll.
The latest poll was taken before the recent attention focused on an anti-Kerry advertising campaign by a Republican-funded group of Vietnam veterans. Through media coverage, more than half the U.S. has seen the ads or heard of them, according to a study by the University of Pennsylvania's National Annenberg Election Survey in Philadelphia.
The Harris survey found 51 percent of Americans disapproving of Bush's performance. Since 1980, the only other presidents with disapproval ratings of more than 50 percent in August of a presidential election year were Jimmy Carter in 1980 and Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, in 1992. Both were defeated for re- election.
Misled on Iraq
The poll also found that 60 percent of Americans say the government misled them about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and links to the al-Qaeda terrorist group responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks. That's up from 51 percent in June. Fifty-four percent of respondents said the Iraq war has made the U.S. less safe, compared with 43 percent who said the war has made the country safer.
Other recent national polls found Bush and Kerry within 1 percentage point and 4 percentage points in the past two weeks. Surveys by the Pew Research Center, the Gallup Organization and Zogby International show Kerry increasing support among independents while Bush solidifies Republican backing.
A review of state-by-state polls and historical voting data by Bloomberg News shows Bush ahead in 19 states, including Texas and Utah, with 153 electoral votes. Kerry leads in 12 states, including New York and Illinois, with 179 electoral votes. In 19 states that have 206 electoral votes, including Ohio and North Carolina, results of the most recent polls are within the margin of error. |
