In the polls

Published September 3, 2004 8:41PM (EDT)

Today: Time magazine reports a big post-RNC bounce for Bush. And: Is France statistically a bona fide U.S. enemy?

A Time poll released today shows Bush with an 11-point lead: "If the 2004 election for President were held today, 52 percent of likely voters surveyed would vote for President George W. Bush, 41 percent would vote for Democratic nominee John Kerry, and 3 percent would vote for Ralph Nader."

The poll was conducted during the last three days of the Republican Convention, meaning that little or none of the data was collected following the President's speech last night, and that much was collected before Zell Miller and Dick Cheney spoke on night three. Over 59 percent of those polled approved of the President's handling of the war on terror, making his performance in that category his single biggest asset. "57% trust Bush to handle the war on terrorism, while 36% trust Kerry."

The poll's "likely voter" results have a 4 percent margin of error, and follows a Time poll out Monday, which showed Bush leading Kerry by only two points.

Then there is today's version of the Rasmussen Daily Tracking Poll. The rolling survey shows Bush leading Kerry 49 percent to 45 percent for the second straight day, leading Rasmussen to assert that, "Bush is enjoying a modest convention bounce."

Focusing on foreign affairs, another Rasmussen survey shows that only 21 percent of Americans believe that the United Nations is an ally of the United States in the war on terror, and that 16 percent of those surveyed classified the U.N. as an "enemy of the U.S."

While Rasmussen doesn't let us know the actual language of the survey question (and that's important in polls like this), it's striking that almost one in six Americans view the U.N., an organization which was chartered to help mankind "practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours," as an out-and-out adversary. Apparently France has an even worse reputation stateside. "Twenty-seven percent" the poll says, "view France as an enemy in the War on Terror."


By Jeff Horwitz

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