Kerry Cuts Into Dean's Lead in N.H. Poll

[Nicholas_J]

Kerry Cuts Into Dean's Lead in N.H. Poll; Democrats Divided Over Who Would Be Stronger Vs. Bush

The Associated Press



BOSTON Sept. 8 —
While Howard Dean maintains a double-digit lead, albeit smaller, over John Kerry in the latest New Hampshire poll, likely Democratic primary voters are closely divided over which of the two leading candidates would be the strongest against President Bush.

Dean, the former Vermont governor, had 38 percent support to Kerry's 26 percent in the poll by The Boston Globe/WBZ-TV released Sunday. A Zogby International survey last month showed Dean ahead of the Massachusetts senator by 21 points.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20030908_829.html

[RevolutionStartsNow]

1. Dean and Kerry statistically even for who would beat Bush

The poll found that 28 percent said Dean was the strongest candidate to face Bush in November 2004, while 26 percent cited Kerry. Seventeen percent were unsure.

This is good news. Especially remembering some earlier polls where Kerry was shown to be much stronger against Bush than Dean, which caused some, uh, posters to declare that Dean was going nowhere.

Of course, Dean still has a way to go to convince people that he can beat Bush; I see this when I'm out talking to people, but he is definitely moving this one in the right direction.

[Nicholas_J]

2. Dean will have to convince people

With his record and flip flops finally hanging out of his pcokets....

It will be a much harder task than it was when only his suporters were paying attention to him

[stickdog]

3. Right. Nobody else ever paid him no never mind. (NT)

[stickdog]

4. You can't compare different polls like this and say "Kerry has closed."

I can't find the last poll by KRC, so this might be their first.

It has a margin of error of +/- 5% (because of only 400 respondents).

[tedoll78]

5. So..

this is what an announcement bounce looks like. Interesting.

[MercutioATC]

6. Actually, this is what 2 different polls look like...

I'm not displeased to see support for the Dem candidates increasing, but these ARE 2 different polls done by 2 different polling groups. They can't be directly compared.

[tedoll78]

8. Very interesting..

I was wondering about who did the first poll (the 21-point poll). Thanks!

[MercutioATC]

9. The first was a Zogby poll.

I'm NOT suggesting that the more recent poll is inaccurate, just that you can't really directly compare two separate polls conducted by two different polling groups.

[CMT]

7. Great News!!

two different polls showing double-digit support for Howard Dean in NH. Thanks Nicholas.

[Larkspur]

10. Ditto. Thanks for promoting Dean, Nick

Two polls validating that Dean's popularity is rising.

Thanks again, Nick.

[MercutioATC]

11. And to think just last month we had to listen to him say that

Dean had NEVER beat Kerry in any poll outside of the margin of error. My, how times change.

:evilgrin:

[UnapologeticLiberal]

12. This is comparing apples to oranges

You cannot compare the margins in two different polls and say one candidate is gaining or falling, because every poll is a little different. If you want to look for trends, you have the look at the same polling company and see how the numbers go up or down.

Besides, if we beat Kerry by 12 points in New Hampshire, he is still finished, so what difference does it make if we beat him by 12 or 21 points?