http://www.bocaratonnews.com/index.php?src=news&category=Local%20News&prid=9844The issue of health care yesterday gave Sen. John Kerry a small boost in Florida, propelling the Democratic challenger to a four-point lead over President George W. Bush in one statewide poll. In the Florida Insider poll, Bush had held a 47 to 44 percent lead entering Wednesday night’s domestic policy debate. But yesterday’s Insider numbers, from 450 registered voters surveyed between Tuesday and Thursday, showed Kerry taking a 48 percent to 44 percent lead over the incumbent Republican. The poll has a five-point margin of error.
A Strategic Vision poll of 801 likely voters conducted during the same time period gave Kerry a one-point gain over an Oct. 7 poll. Bush yesterday still led in that poll – which has a three percent margin of error – 49 percent to 46 percent.Although the race remains a statistical dead heat, pollsters said Kerry this week helped himself in the battle for the state’s 27 electoral votes. “Kerry has gained the momentum in Florida, and health care is a large component of that,” said Matt Towery, Insider pollster. “Why? Because you have so many seniors in Florida, and health care and social security are always their biggest issues.” “Health care caused this bump, although it wasn’t as big as I expected Kerry to get,” said Strategic Vision pollster David E. Johnson.
The Insider poll reports that 24 percent of Floridians said the debates influenced their vote. This rose to 32 percent of respondents who described themselves as “moderate,” a category where Kerry now leads 54 to 35 percent. Bush in the poll lost ground among women and among men, where the Republican no longer enjoys a double-digit lead over his Democratic challenger. Florida had been trending toward Kerry all week, and Towery said Bush’s insistence in the last debate on promoting his prescription drug bill – which has failed to resonate with Florida’s seniors – is the cause of this latest bump.
“Support for the president’s prescription drug benefits package has been surprisingly small,” Towery said. “For the seniors we polled, prescription drugs wasn’t even one of their top five concerns. It’s not a winning issue for the Republicans because seniors can’t get excited about something that doesn’t take effect until 2006.”
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