For the first time since the Presidential race became a two person contest last spring, there is a clear leader, the latest TIME poll shows. If the 2004 election for President were held today, 52% of likely voters surveyed would vote for President George W. Bush, 41% would vote for Democratic nominee John Kerry, and 3% would vote for Ralph Nader, according to a new TIME poll conducted from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2. Poll results are available on TIME.com and will appear in the upcoming issue of TIME magazine, on newsstands Monday, Sept. 6.
Matt's Chat
Bounce, bounce, bounce.Or is it? Glenn seemed to think these numbers came from events occuring before the convention.
Still have two months to go, but we're seeing results that we like at this point. The President's approval rating is up over 50. Rassmussan has the President up in their poll. And now this.
Mark's Remarks
While I think that there were indications of the change before the convention, the dramatic shift in less than 36 hours is striking. I believe the speeches of Arnold, Rudy, and Zell played a key role. Despite the media's attempts to hide John Kerry's Senate Record, it has been revealed bare.
Now, of course, the media and liberals will paint John Kerry as a victim of hateful advertising and politics. Again I ask, where were these calls for civilized campaigning while people were calling Bush Hitler and a gang leader? And, the truth of the matter is that the Republicans did not smear Kerry's service in Vietnam. They, in fact, applauded it, as the tapes of the convention will show when his service is mentioned. A 527 group attacked his record, and these were men who were there on the scene. They were there 35 years ago, and the media should have checked their story with half the vigor they subjected the National Guard issue to. I don't know about Kerry's medals, I wasn't there. But I think that a group of decorated veterans deserve to speak, especially if they have information that could be investigated.
The Republicans never attacked Kerry's military service. They revealed his strikingly liberal and extreme voting record in the Senate. The American people are finally seeing something else besides "hey I served in Vietnam." They are finally hearing about what Kerry did in the Senate: cricket, cricket.
Meanwhile, John Kerry not only broke long held tradition of not having a rally during the convention (wait, I know, liberals will use the semantic loophole of it was technically the next day, but come on, let's be real here), but he also engaged almost immediately in his speech in the hate and vitriol he claimed to oppose. His attacks on Cheney and others were unfounded, as citations he asserted to Cheney were patently untrue. Mr. Kerry's screed was no less than a meltdown, and it was stupid to do this so soon after a positive speech by his opponent. The move revealed desperation and imbalance, both in Kerry and his campaign. I see the beginnings of unhinging.
However, we who favor President Bush must remain vigilant. We have to stay on the offensive, not with hate of Kerry but with showing the facts of his voting and attendance records in the Senate. This is not attacking his patriotism, it is telling about HIS RECORD. What is revealing to me is Kerry didn't really defend his Senate record, he immediately went into Vietnam mode. This tells me he has nothing else....
