{"id":655,"date":"2003-09-22T10:08:38","date_gmt":"2003-09-22T15:08:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/655.html"},"modified":"2003-09-22T10:08:38","modified_gmt":"2003-09-22T15:08:38","slug":"clark-excels-in-newsweek-poll-bushnot-so-much","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/clark-excels-in-newsweek-poll-bushnot-so-much\/","title":{"rendered":"Clark excels in Newsweek poll, Bush…not so much"},"content":{"rendered":"

Newsweek is first out of the gate with a national poll<\/a> that includes Wesley Clark as a Dem candidate, and the former general will certainly be pleased with the results.<\/p>\n

According the poll, Democrats and self-identified independents who lean Democratic were asked which of the Dem candidates they’d like to see get the nomination. The results were as follows:<\/p>\n

Wesley Clark — 14% (n\/a in July)
\nHoward Dean — 12% (no change from July)
\nJoe Lieberman –12% (down from 13% in July)
\nJohn Kerry — 10% (no change from July)
\nDick Gephardt — 8% (down from 14% in July)
\nAl Sharpton — 7% (up from 6% in July)
\nJohn Edwards — 6% (no change from July)
\nBob Graham — 4% (down from 7% in July)
\nCarol Moseley Braun — 2% (down from 3% in July)
\nDennis Kucinich — 2% (no change from July)<\/p>\n

Certainly, for Clark fans, this is pretty huge news. This was a poll conducted in his first and second full days as a candidate, and according to Newsweek, he’s already the frontrunner. Whether you like Clark or not, it’s an impressive way to get started.<\/p>\n

Now, these results may be a little askew. The margin of error is +\/- 6%, which effectively means the top five candidates (Clark, Dean, Lieberman, Kerry, and Gephardt) are enjoying similar support. Plus, Clark was certainly enjoying new-found attention from the hype surrounding his Wednesday announcement speech.<\/p>\n

Regardless, the poll demonstrates that Clark enters the race as a top tier candidate. Oddly enough, Clark doesn’t appear to take a lot of support from any single candidate. Dean, Lieberman, and Kerry, for example, didn’t see their results drop as a result of Clark’s announcement. The big change came from previously undecided Dems throwing their support to Clark in large numbers.<\/p>\n

Perhaps just as important, if not more so, were hypothetical match-ups with the Dems against Bush in the Newsweek poll.
\n
\nWhen all registered voters (not just Dems and Dem-leaning Independents) were asked who they would vote for in the presidential election, Bush led each of the top Dem candidates — some more than others.<\/p>\n

Howard Dean, by far, did the worst, continuing to reinforce fears that he would lack the support needed to win in the general election. In their head-to-head match-up, 52% supported Bush, 38% backed Dean — a 14-point gap.<\/p>\n

John Kerry fared much better. 48% chose Bush, while 43% supported Kerry — a 5-point gap.<\/p>\n

Wesley Clark, meanwhile, fared the best of the Dem candidates overall, with 47% backing Bush and 43% siding with Clark — a 4-point gap.<\/p>\n

Interestingly enough, Clark’s support in the Newsweek poll demonstrated why so many party officials believe he can and will be a strong national candidate. Self-identified Independents backed Clark over Bush 44% to 42%, and Clark was even ahead of Bush among voters in the South<\/a>, 47% to 45%.<\/p>\n

A Dem with support over Bush in the South<\/i>? Do my eyes deceive me? Let’s not forget that Al Gore didn’t win a single state (including his home state of Tennessee) in the South in 2000. From Virginia to Texas, Bush won them all. If Dems can nominate a candidate who can compete in (and even win a few) Southern states, Bush loses next year. It’s as simple as that.<\/p>\n

And speaking of our fearless leader, the same Newsweek poll showed that Bush’s approval rating has fallen to 51%, the second-lowest point of his presidency and the lowest point in the post-9\/11 era. Just as importantly, Bush’s approval for his handling of Iraq has dropped to 46%, the first time in his presidency it has fallen below 50%, while 57% disapprove of how Bush is handling the economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Newsweek is first out of the gate with a national poll that includes Wesley Clark as a Dem candidate, and the former general will certainly be pleased with the results. According the poll, Democrats and self-identified independents who lean Democratic were asked which of the Dem candidates they’d like to see get the nomination. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}