Bush popularity rate dips to 50 percent, US electorate split

[Freddie Stubbs]

NEW YORK (AFP) - President George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s approval rating has dipped to 50 percent, and the US electorate is evenly split heading into the 2004 presidential election year, a new poll has found.

Given a choice between Bush and an unnamed Democratic candidate, 43 percent would vote for Bush and 45 percent would vote for the Democrat, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll published Sunday.

Former Vermont governor Howard Dean (news - web sites) was the top choice for Democratic Party presidential nominee, with 24 percent support, versus 12 percent for retired general Wesley Clark (news - web sites), 11 percent for Representative Dick Gephardt (news - web sites) and seven percent for John Kerry (news - web sites).

Sixty-four percent said, however, it was too early to say for sure about the Democratic nominee.

more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1506&e=10&u=/afp/us_vote_bush_poll

[cthrumatrix]

1. drip..drip..drip....O'Neill should be recoginzed as "whistleblower" for

truth...people will see the lies of the Iraq "pre-emptive plans"..the carelessness of his deficit spending ..all to get elected and sell this country down a river.

[demnan]

2. So you're telling me to duck and cover?

(living in 8 story apartment building 1/2 mile from the Pentagon).

[Barrett808]

8. Yes, a convenient "terrorist attack" is all too likely

Plus, an OBL October Surprise is certain.

[wildwww2]

3. How can a murderer of civilians for bullcrap reasons be popular at all?

It boggles the mind. I was trained as a warrior and yet I don`t have this urge to kill poor brown people to keep republicans in power. What is wrong with me?
Peace
Wildman
Al Gore is My President

[lovedems]

4. It will be interesting to see what kind of boost he will get after

his SOTU. Those will be numbers to consider. If he goes up to 60% would it be safe to say approximately 10% of the voters could be easily fooled or swayed back to the dems side.

Just a thought worth pondering. I don't really know the importance of polls or if they have any real value. With these poll numbers a day before the SOTU, we should be able to make some sense of the undecideds and how much of a boost he gets.

[Beaker]

5. "...easily fooled or swayed back to the dems side"???

huh?

I thought that people had to be fooled into being repukes...

[lovedems]

6. I am saying hypothetically of course, that if he gets a 10% boost

from his SOTU, does that 10% group who now agree with him for the moment qualify as undecideds? Can * count on that 10% or because they are undecided, we can get them back with cold hard facts rather than lip service?

I know you have to fooled into being repuke and that is what he is going to do tomorrow night, fool people into thinking we are winning the war and the economy is great and jobs are on the way, etc. etc.

[Supormom]

9. That's a very good point.

[dusty64]

7. While this IS good news,

I can't help but wonder why its still 50/50. Besides the fact they may want to give the impression the election is still riggable. How can the same people who actually voted for our regime still like what they see. The few I know who did are not planning to this time around. I can't help but smell something here.

[Jackpine Radical]

10. A survey of 1200 Diebold touch-screen voting machines

shows that 83% of them intend to vote for Bush.

[suegeo]

11. What a headline!

US electorate split...But! But! Smirky said he was a uniter not a divider.

I'm amazed, with the media whoring done to cover for the chimp, that people still seem to see through any of his crap.