President Bush has maintained his post-convention bounce and even grown his support to a nine-point lead over Democratic rival John Kerry, according to a new CBS News/New York Times poll released Friday. Fifty percent of respondents support Bush, compared with 41 percent who support Kerry, up from 49 percent for Bush and 42 percent for Kerry just one week ago. The nationwide poll was conducted in a telephone survey of 1,088 registered voters from Thursday through Sunday and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent. And Bush's support is much stronger than Kerry's support, which is roughly divided among those who favor Kerry and those who dislike Bush.
Sixty-three percent of Bush backers say they strongly favor the president, while just 9 percent support Bush because they dislike other candidates. In contrast, 40 percent of Kerry's supporters strongly favor the senator, slightly higher than the 31 percent of Kerry backers who are supporting him because they dislike the president. The economy remains the top issue voters want to hear the candidates talk about, but Kerry supporters are more eager to hear talk about the economy than Bush supporters. Roughly 24 percent of all voters think the economy is the top issue, followed by 17 percent who think the war in Iraq is the most important issue. Sixteen percent think healthcare should be the top priority.
Broken down by candidate, 29 percent of Kerry supporters believe the economy is the most important issue, while only 18 percent of Bush voters want to hear talk about the economy most. Twenty-two percent of Kerry voters want to hear about the war in Iraq, while just 13 percent of Bush voters think Iraq is the top priority. Only 1 percent of Kerry voters want to hear about terrorism, compared to 10 percent of Bush voters who think terrorism should be the top priority. On the economy, about 42 percent of respondents have confidence in Bush's decision-making process, compared with 56 percent who are uneasy about his economic policies. That's almost identical to responses a week ago and roughly in line with beliefs about Kerry's decision making process. Forty-three percent of respondents have confidence in Kerry's economic policies, while 51 percent are uneasy about his approach. |