Marist ... Kerry +1
Fox ... Kerry +2
NBC ... Bush +1
Gallup ... Bush +2
ARG ... Tied
CBS/NYT ... Bush +3
Pew ... Bush +3
The best thing these numbers show for President Bush is that 4 of 7 show him in the lead. And his leads are a tad more sizeable than Kerry's.
But look more closely and you see things more favorable to Kerry. The first is that not one of these polls has the president over 49%. And still more telling, if you look at how I've ordered the numbers, it looks like I've arranged them from most Kerry-friendly to most Bush-friendly. But I haven't. I've ordered them by how recently they were taken.
All the Marist poll calls were made Sunday. Half the Fox calls were made Sunday. On the other hand, Pew and CBS stopped calling on Saturday. NBC and Gallup both ran Friday through Sunday.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/003889.php