USA TODAY POLL INTERNALS:
All in all, the Bush campaign must be pretty pleased with the internals of the USA Today-CNN-Gallup poll.
Bush's job approval rating: 54 percent
Do you think the policies being proposed by each of the following presidential candidates would move the country in the right direction or in the wrong direction?
John Kerry, likely voters:
Right direction: 44 percent; Wrong direction: 49 percent
John Kerry, registered voters:
Right direction: 42 percent; Wrong direction: 49 percent
George W. Bush, likely voters:
Right direction: 54 percent; Wrong direction: 44 percent
George W. Bush, registered voters:
Right direction: 56 percent; Wrong direction: 40 percent
Bush Certain Voters - 47 percent
Bush voters may change mind - 5 percent
Kerry Certain Voters - 37 percent
Kerry voters may change mind - 7 percent
The one bit of bad news - more for Kerry Spot readers than for the Bush campaign - is that the Pajamahadeen may not be as influential as thought. When asked whether CBS News reported its story "mostly as an honest mistake due to carelessness in their fact checking and reporting" or mostly "due to a desire to make George W. Bush look bad" 56 percent said "honest mistake," 38 percent said "to make Bush look bad."
Also, 26 percent say Dan Rather should be fired, 64 percent say he should not.
ABC POLL HAS BUSH UP, 51-45
Boy, the guys at ABC like to hide the basic who's winning numbers in the middle of the story.
Fifty-one percent of likely voters in this poll support Bush, 45 percent Kerry and one percent Ralph Nader, much like the 52-43-2 percent race on Sept. 8. It's nearly identical among all registered voters.
Bush's job approval is at 52 percent, which ABC calls "tepid."
Of course, ABC would call 52% "tepid," it is almost as liberal as CBS who did not report any poll numbers.
NO, LOCKHART'S NOT A GOOD CLOSER EITHER
Mickey Kaus makes an observation that seems obvious, yet no one has mentioned it yet:
Joe Lockhart was supposed to be the Clintonite pro who came in and saved the Kerry campaign. So far he's a) embroiled the campaign in the Dan Rather/Bill Burkett CBS memo fiasco and b) ham-handedly called Iraqi interim P.M. Allawi a "puppet." But I hear he's a good closer! ...
P.S.: I've been all for a Kerry's recent assault on Bush's policy on Iraq and the larger war on terror. That's what the election is about.** But is there any evidence that Kerry's Iraq push is working to change votes? Maybe the ABC/WaPo poll tonight will have some. ...
Update: Nope. ...
(** I don't like the way Kerry's gone about it, reacting in slightly hysterical doom-and-gloomish fashion to whatever bad news or minor Bush gaffe is out there each day. But I only authorized Kerry's Iraq attacks. I don't approve of of the way he's used that authority.)
While Kerry's attacks on Bush have been a little sharper, it's kind of hard to tell what bringing on all the Clintonites has done for his campaign. And didn't Lockhart build his reputation as Clinton's second-term press secretary? When Clinton was an incumbent who wasn't going to face the voters again?
In fact, wasn't his job mostly to attack GOP congressional leaders morning, noon, and night? Yes, yes it was.
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