Bush Gets a Bounce

A press release from Time magazine detailing their latest poll shows George W. Bush got a sizeable bounce from his convention.

New York — For the first time since the Presidential race became a two person contest last spring, there is a clear leader, the latest TIME poll shows. If the 2004 election for President were held today, 52% of likely voters surveyed would vote for President George W. Bush, 41% would vote for Democratic nominee John Kerry, and 3% would vote for Ralph Nader, according to a new TIME poll conducted from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2. Poll results are available on TIME.com and will appear in the upcoming issue of TIME magazine, on newsstands Monday, Sept. 6.

John Kerry polls slightly better than Bush on health care and “understanding the needs of people.” Kerry and Bush are virtually tied on the economy. What seems to push Bush over the top is that he beats Kerry by more than 20 percentage points on the issue of terrorism.
More polls using a different methodology are sure to be forthcoming. Bush’s lead could shrink or even grow.
John Kerry got a negligible bounce from his own convention, probably because he annoyed the hell out of damn near everybody who hadn’t already decided to vote for him.
For the first time in many months I’m willing to predict the winner. I shouldn’t even need to say who it is.
Can I make an old complaint still one more time? Why, oh why, did the Democrats have to pick Kerry? I voted for Kerry in the primary, too, but it wasn’t my fault. By the time the primary election rolled around in my state the only choices remaining were John Kerry, Dennis Kucinich, and Lyndon effing LaRouche. Do those of you who had early primaries have any idea how irritating those choices were? Next time, think ahead a little more. You could have gone with Edwards or Lieberman and neutralized Bush’s national security advantage. That’s what you should have done if you wanted “anybody but Bush.” This whopping convention bounce is the punishment for making that decision.