The Kerry campaign was certainly hoping for a little bump in the polls with the Edwards announcement. Early indications are that it worked.
The Political Wire, for example, noted a new NBC News poll, taken last night, with encouraging results.
Following wall-to-wall veepstakes coverage for Kerry-Edwards coming out of a long holiday weekend, a poll taken last night for NBC News by Princeton Survey Research and aired this morning on TODAY shows Kerry-Edwards beating Bush-Cheney 49% to 41%, with Nader-Camejo at 4%. President Bush’s job approval rating is 45%, with 48% disapproving. Vice President Cheney’s rating is 44% approve, 43% disapprove.
Also heartening were the results of a CNN/USA Today poll released this morning. It didn’t ask about the Election Day match-up, but the poll nevertheless showed good news for the Dem ticket. Edwards enjoyed a 54-16 favorable-to-unfavorable rating, which stands in stark contrast to Dick “Go F— Yourself” Cheney’s 43-44 numbers.
Among all registered voters, a combined 70% said they were either “enthusiastic” or “satisfied” with Edwards on Kerry’s ticket. (Not surprisingly, the support was even stronger among Dems — a combined 88%.)
Nearly two-thirds of those polled said the choice “reflects favorably” on Kerry’s ability to make important presidential decisions. Even better, almost one in four respondents (24%) said they are “more likely” to vote for Kerry with Edwards as his running mate. Those are great results.
But there was one question with results so good I have to wonder if people misunderstood the wording.
“As you may know, before he was elected to the U.S. Senate, John Edwards was a successful trial lawyer who filed lawsuits against hospitals and companies in personal injury cases. If he were elected vice president, do you think his experience as a trial lawyer would be a major strength, a minor strength, a minor weakness, or a major weakness?
Major strength — 26%
Minor strength — 41%
Minor weakness — 15%
Major weakness — 12%
No opinion — 5%
I kind of thought the words “personal injury cases” alone would be enough to scare people. But these results suggest the GOP tack of harping on “trial attorney” every couple of seconds may not have any negative effect at all.
A combined 67% consider Edwards’ experience as a trial lawyer as a “strength”? No wonder the Republicans are in a panic — if the public actually likes lawyers who fight on behalf of working families against irresponsible corporations, then the GOP is in for a world of trouble.