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Gore getting a bounce from convention |
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August 21, 2000
WASHINGTON (AP) - Al Gore left the Democratic National Convention with increasing evidence that he's getting a "bounce" in the polls. A Newsweek poll of registered voters out Saturday put Democratic nominee Gore ahead of Texas Gov. George W. Bush with 48 percent compared to Bush at 42 percent. Bush was ahead by 11 points in the same poll after the Republican National Convention two weeks ago. It may take a week or more to know whether Gore gets a meaningful boost. But several early surveys suggest the vice president will make the campaign very competitive as it heads into the final two months. The Voter.com-Battleground tracking poll of likely voters released Friday had Gore within 5 points of Bush, with the Texas governor leading by 45 percent to Gore's 40 percent. In polls of likely voters, Republicans often fare better because of the more reliable voting habits of Republicans. Bush, the Republican nominee, had an 18-point lead in the tracking poll after his party's convention, and was 11 points up as recently as Thursday. Gore performed strongly in the Newsweek poll on most measures, with almost half the people surveyed saying his convention speech made them feel more favorably toward him. Gore was viewed as stronger on the issues of the economy, abortion, the environment, Social Security, education and even taxes - an area where Bush has traditionally been stronger. Significantly, Gore got about the same response on his leadership abilities as Bush, an area where Gore had been lagging. Campaigning aboard a riverboat on the Mississippi River, Gore joked when he heard about the Newsweek poll: "I'm beginning to think that polls have a little more relevance as we get closer to the election." But he quickly added, "I think there's too much attention paid to polls. ... They go up and down and sideways." Some of the surge after a political convention can evaporate, with polls likely to vary considerably as public opinion starts to settle after the high-profile events. The Battleground poll of 1,000 likely voters was taken Wednesday and Thursday nights and has a 3 percentage point error margin. The Newsweek poll of 806 people was taken Thursday and Friday and has an error margin of 4 percentage points. In Mesilla, New Mexico, Bush sharpened his attacks on Gore on Saturday as he began a post-convention campaign and advertising blitz of battleground states with a focus on education. After a boisterous home state rally in Dallas, Bush traveled to New Mexico, which voted Democratic in both 1992 and 1996, to promote a proposal to provide federal assistance to repair and upgrade Indian reservation schools. Stepping up his attacks on the vice president, Bush said Gore's Thursday night speech to the Democratic convention was rife with "name-calling, finger pointing...and passing blame." In Bellevue, Iowa, Gore told rural Iowans that he's the one who will fight for the environment. "Clean air and clean water are good for our families, good for our future and I'll fight for it. The other side gives in to the big polluters," he said. Gore is on Day Two of a four-day, 400-mile (640-kilometer) excursion down the storied Mississippi River. In addition to dockside rallies, he passed the hours aboard the paddle-wheeler "Mark Twain" with card game hijinks and birthday festivities for wife Tipper, who turned 52. |