Poll: of Democrats, Only Kerry Tops Bush - Beats Bush 48% to 43%

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&ncid=703&e=4&u=/ap/20040216/ap_on_el_pr/bush_kerry

WASHINGTON - Among the three top Democratic candidates still in the November race, only front-runner John Kerry (news - web sites) leads in a head-to-head matchup with President Bush (news - web sites), says a poll released Monday.



In the CBS News poll, Kerry had a lead of 48 percent to 43 percent over Bush. The president led John Edwards (news - web sites), 50-41 percent, and Howard Dean (news - web sites), 54-37 percent, in other matchups.


Kerry, a Massachusetts senator, is the Democratic front-runner and has a big lead over the other candidates among Democrats and independents who say they're likely to vote in a primary.


Kerry was at 53 percent, while Dean, a former Vermont governor, was at 8 percent. Edwards, a senator from North Carolina, was at 7 percent, activist Al Sharpton (news - web sites) at 4 percent and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich (news - web sites) at 1 percent.

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[DoveTurnedHawk]

1. Kerry's the Man (eom)

DTH

[mzmolly]

2. The media take down has been quite effective. Polls from before the

aggressive *unelectable* brainwashing showed our top Dems virtually tied against * ...

[Zinfandel]

3. That's surely what the republican corporate media wants us to believe

[DoveTurnedHawk]

5. That's Right, I Forgot the Memo

It's all media bias, voting machines and backroom politics.

It couldn't possibly be that Kerry ran a good campaign, and Dean a poor one, could it?

:eyes:

DTH

[arwalden]

11. I. Am. In. Capable. Of. Thinking. For. Myself.

I. Must. Do. What. The. Media. Tells. Me. To. Do.
Vote. For. Kerry.
Buy. More. Toothpaste.
Eat. At. McDonalds.

-- Allen

[Dookus]

4. Yup!

Kerry can beat Bush. Dean cannot. I'm glad Democratic voters on the whole recognize this.

[anti-NAFTA]

7. Maybe Dean can;t.

But Kerry will be a lot less strong in November than someone like Edwards would. Please read my thread titled "A Reality-Check for Kerry Supporters."

And I would feel a lot more comfortable fighting for someone like Dean than I would going through all this trouble just to get Clinton, er, I mean Kerry elected.

[Dookus]

15. I read that

your beliefs and suppositions aren't evidence. The evidence that Kerry can beat Bush is that he's doing so in the polls now. Edwards is not. Kerry has won 14 out of 16 primaries. Edwards has not. Kerry has extensive experience at the national level. Edwards does not. Kerry has great foreign policy credentials. Edwards does not.

What's YOUR evidence? That Edwards is anti-NAFTA, and therefore will garner the HUGE untapped pool of voters who make trade policy their make it or break it issue?

[bigwillq]

8. I think most Dems recognize it but we still have to fight

for our candidates who are still in the running that are not named John Kerry. We owe it to our candidates.

[vi5]

6. This poll, like the others clearly proves that only Dean can beat bush!

I'm not sure how, but that's what I've been told.

[Dookus]

9. LOL...

I've been scratchin' my noodle over that one, too. I hear it said again and again....

[ixion]

10. which begs the question

what the hell is wrong with other 43% of 'dems'. :eyes:

[elperromagico]

12. Man, look at the support he takes away from Bush.

He pulls 7% more from Bush than Edwards, and 8% more than Dean. That's encouraging.

[ShaneGR]

13. The media has been very kind to him, and I salute him for takin advantage

Seriously, we need a candidate with press savvy people. The second Kerry won Iowa his press representatives DOMINATED the media's lines about the primaries. And then it was just a slow choke-off every Tuesday and every Saturday. Kerry wins. Kerry wins. Kerry wins. Four weeks now people. He's won every single primary except 2 and only one candidate is still in the race who has won a primary other than Kerry.

He stomped us. And I salute him for it. He has been very strong and he's proving he can stand up to media criticism. I still think he'll look really good with fire-fighters and the veterans at the convention. He'll draw HUGE crowds everywhere he goes too. I guarantee if Kerry came to Akron, OH and did a rally similar to the one Clinton did in July of 1992, he'd draw 50,000. Have it in September. Clinton had about 40K back then, but if anything this area of Ohio is getting MORE Democratic.

[WiseMen]

14. Please Notice: The Bush/Dean Gap has been roughly consistent for 6 months

There was only a 2 week period when all the Dem broke the pattern of
Kerry and Clark being the only ones to be competitive with Bush.

There are fundamental perceptions at work.

[fishnfla]

16. I believe even an "un-named Dem" beats the texas souffle

its all good.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

17. We clearly have a winner in Kerry

I am usually less than sanguine re: these theoretical matchups done before all the smearing and campaigning has begun, but clearly Kerry has the potential to absolutely KO his shrubulance.
We can blow him out of there and right back to Crawford.
I am getting pumped.
If Clark's the VP then a lot of us will be pumped.