Voters Approve of Choice of Edwards - Polls
Wed Jul 7, 2004 04:50 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat John Kerry's choice of John Edwards as his running mate drew a largely favorable public response on Wednesday, with polls showing majorities of voters approved of the choice but did not think it would change their vote in November.
Polls taken after Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee to face President Bush in November, tapped the first-term senator from North Carolina for the ticket on Tuesday found that voters believed Edwards was ready to serve as president if needed.
A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll found 54 percent of registered voters surveyed had a favorable impression of Edwards and only 16 percent an unfavorable impression, while 64 percent thought he was either an excellent or pretty good choice for vice president.
That put him in slightly better standing than Dick Cheney in 2000, when 55 percent of voters ranked his selection for vice president by Bush as either excellent or good, and Joseph Lieberman, who was ranked as an excellent or good choice by 53 percent of voters when Democrat Al Gore picked him in 2000.
A CBS News poll found 53 percent of voters were satisfied with the choice of Edwards and 19 percent were enthusiastic, while 12 percent were dissatisfied and 1 percent angry.
But a poll by NBC News found 63 percent did not think the choice of Edwards would make a difference in their vote, while Gallup found two-thirds of respondents did not think the selection would play a role in their choice.
Of those who might be affected, CBS found 24 percent said it would make them more likely to vote for Kerry. Only 7 percent said they were less likely to vote for him.
Kerry's selection of Edwards drew immediate condemnation from Republicans, who said he was too inexperienced for the task. But 57 percent of the respondents in the Gallup poll said Edwards was qualified to become president if necessary -- the same number who felt that way about Cheney four years ago.
The University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Election survey showed 31 percent with a favorable opinion of Edwards and 17 percent unfavorable, but 29 percent were neutral and 22 percent did not know how to rate him.
The Gallup, CBS and NBC polls all had margin of errors of plus or minus 5 percent, while the Annenberg survey, which included interviews taken before Kerry's choice of Edwards was announced, had a 3 percent margin of error.
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