Swift Boat Vets Help Bush Surge Ahead of Kerry
NewsMax Wires
Thursday, Aug. 26, 2004
President Bush has pushed ahead of Democratic challenger John Kerry amid challenges over his tour-of-duty in Vietnam, according to a poll out a week before the Republican National Convention.
Kerry held a 2-percentage-point advantage over Bush before the Democratic convention last month in a Los Angeles Times poll. But a new survey published Thursday shows that Bush drew 49 percent of registered voters compared with 46 percent for Kerry. Adding independent candidate Ralph Nader to the mix, Bush's advantage remained 3 percentage points.
Story Continues Below
The poll found that Bush's surge may have to do with attracting voters from his rival's party. Bush drew 15 percent of all Democrats and 20 percent of Democrats who consider themselves moderate or conservative. Kerry only drew about 3 percent of all Republicans, the poll showed.
The telephone poll of 1,352 registered voters nationwide was conducted from Saturday through Tuesday. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
A majority of Americans believe Kerry served honorably in Vietnam but some Republicans question Kerry's honesty about his service while Democrats by nearly 10 to 1 believe Kerry is telling the truth, the poll showed.
The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group that has attacked his Vietnam record over the past month and has received funding from several of Bush's supporters, has aired a series of TV ads challenging Kerry's record in Vietnam.
One ad says Kerry did not deserve some of the five medals he won in Vietnam and the second criticizing his antiwar testimony before the Senate in 1971.
Nearly half of those polled - 48 percent - had seen the ad accusing Kerry of lying to win his medals and 44 percent said they had seen the ad criticizing Kerry's Senate testimony.
About 18 percent of those surveyed said they "believe that Kerry misrepresented his war record and does not deserve his war medals," while 58 percent said Kerry "fought honorably and does deserve" the medals.
When voters were asked whether Kerry's protest against the war when he returned from Vietnam would influence their vote, 20 percent said it made them more likely to support him while 26 percent said it reduced the chance they would back him, and 52 percent said it made no difference.
The share of voters saying they lacked confidence in Kerry as president edged up from 39 percent in the July newspaper poll to 43 percent in Thursday's poll.
Pamela Sundberg, a disabled paralegal from Moorhead, Minn., who responded to the survey, said there are conflicting emotions among those drawn toward change but still resisting Kerry.
Sundberg voted for Bush in 2000, but now feels "we got ourselves in a mess in Iraq," where her son has been serving. She is dubious about Kerry, saying that "he's so back-and-forth about things."
But while leaning toward Bush now, she can envision switching to Kerry by November.
"Maybe just for a change, he should be elected," she said.
Meanwhile, Bush either slightly gained ground or stabilized his position on several measures. His overall approval rating grew 1 percent from last month's poll to 52 percent, while 47 percent disapproved, a percentage point lower than the previous poll.
Forty-six percent said it was worth launching a war in Iraq and 49 percent disagreed, the poll showed.
"We should have done it a long time ago, eight to 10 years ago, and we probably wouldn't have had 9/11," said Gene Cox, a small-business owner and veteran from Crestview, Fla., who is supporting Bush.
Asked if Bush deserved reelection, 47 percent of voters said yes and 49 percent said no. Fifty-two percent of all voters polled said the country was heading down the wrong track.
newsmax.com |
