Bush Trails Kerry in Minnesota, Close in Michigan
Sun Apr 4, 2004 01:23 PM ET
CHICAGO (Reuters) - President Bush trails presumed Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry in the Midwestern state of Minnesota, but is nearly even with him in Michigan, two polls in key battleground states showed.
In Minnesota, Kerry leads Bush 50 percent to 38 percent, a 12-point gap. Independent candidate Ralph Nader got 2 percent, according to a poll published on Sunday by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune newspaper.
In Michigan, Bush and Kerry are in a statistical dead heat, with Kerry getting 44 percent, Bush 43 and Nader at 3 percent, according to an EPIC/MRA poll published in the Detroit Free Press newspaper on Saturday.
Minnesota and Michigan were both won narrowly in 2000 by former Vice President Al Gore. The Midwest is expected to be a key battleground in the 2004 election.
The Minnesota poll, which surveyed 562 likely voters from March 28 to 31 when former White House counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke was sharply criticizing Bush's foreign policies, found Bush's standing slipping over the four days of polling. He trailed Kerry by only four points the first two days but that ballooned on the final two days of polling.
The Michigan poll of 600 likely voters conducted from March 28 to April 1, showed a slight improvement in Bush's job approval ratings in the state, with half having a favorable impression of the president.
reuters.com |
