Captain Bryan
09-15-2004, 04:21 PM
Minnesota Poll: Bush inches up on Kerry
source (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6008138/)
On the eve of President Bush's bus tour across Minnesota, a new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll shows him potentially gaining ground on challenger John Kerry in what has long been a reliably Democratic state in presidential elections.
The poll, conducted Sept. 7-13, found that Kerry has the support of 50 percent of likely voters in Minnesota, while Bush has the support of 41 percent.
The president's support has increased by 3 percentage points from the level he had in March, the last time the Minnesota Poll measured support for the candidates, while Kerry's support remained unchanged.
Kerry's lead over Bush is wider than in other recent statewide polls, which have ranged from a tie to a 7-percentage point lead.
But the narrowing of the race in Minnesota is consistent with polls in several battleground states conducted since the end of the Republican convention, which have shown that Bush has opened up a substantial lead in some, while inching up in states where Kerry has long been comfortably ahead.
"This suggests that Kerry has gotten his feet back under him," said Larry Jacobs, who directs the 2004 Elections Project at the University of Minnesota's Center for the Study of Politics.
"It's a little higher than I've seen in some other polls, but it doesn't strike me as outrageous," Jacobs said.
For the first time in decades, Minnesota is in play in the presidential election, with both parties targeting the state, sending in unending waves of candidates and their surrogates. For example, Bush's scheduled visit Thursday will be his fifth to the state this year; Kerry has made six Minnesota stops.
[View the source if you want to read the whole book.]
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Since a large portion of us on here are from Minnesota I decided this was news worthy.
source (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6008138/)
On the eve of President Bush's bus tour across Minnesota, a new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll shows him potentially gaining ground on challenger John Kerry in what has long been a reliably Democratic state in presidential elections.
The poll, conducted Sept. 7-13, found that Kerry has the support of 50 percent of likely voters in Minnesota, while Bush has the support of 41 percent.
The president's support has increased by 3 percentage points from the level he had in March, the last time the Minnesota Poll measured support for the candidates, while Kerry's support remained unchanged.
Kerry's lead over Bush is wider than in other recent statewide polls, which have ranged from a tie to a 7-percentage point lead.
But the narrowing of the race in Minnesota is consistent with polls in several battleground states conducted since the end of the Republican convention, which have shown that Bush has opened up a substantial lead in some, while inching up in states where Kerry has long been comfortably ahead.
"This suggests that Kerry has gotten his feet back under him," said Larry Jacobs, who directs the 2004 Elections Project at the University of Minnesota's Center for the Study of Politics.
"It's a little higher than I've seen in some other polls, but it doesn't strike me as outrageous," Jacobs said.
For the first time in decades, Minnesota is in play in the presidential election, with both parties targeting the state, sending in unending waves of candidates and their surrogates. For example, Bush's scheduled visit Thursday will be his fifth to the state this year; Kerry has made six Minnesota stops.
[View the source if you want to read the whole book.]
----------------------
Since a large portion of us on here are from Minnesota I decided this was news worthy.