A Zogby poll conducted August 30-September 2 showed George W. Bush leading John Kerry among likely voters by 2%. The poll also found, however, that, by 48% to 46%, the respondents wanted “someone new” rather then agreeing that Bush “deserves to be reelected”
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Editor’s Corner
By Ed Kilgore
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March 28: RIP Joe Lieberman, a Democrat Who Lost His Way
I was sorry to learn of the sudden death of 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Lieberman. But his long and stormy career did offer some important lessons about party loyalty, which I wrote about at New York:
Joe Lieberman was active in politics right up to the end. The former senator was the founding co-chair of the nonpartisan group No Labels, which is laying the groundwork for a presidential campaign on behalf of a yet-to-be-identified bipartisan âunity ticket.â Lieberman did not live to see whether No Labels will run a candidate. He died on Wednesday at 82 due to complications from a fall. But this last political venture was entirely in keeping with his long career as a self-styled politician of the pragmatic center, which often took him across party boundaries.
Liebermanâs first years in Connecticut Democratic politics as a state legislator and then state attorney general were reasonably conventional. He was known for a particular interest in civil rights and environmental protection, and his identity as an observant Orthodox Jew also drew attention. But in 1988, the Democrat used unconventional tactics in his challenge to Republican U.S. senator Lowell Weicker. Lieberman positioned himself to the incumbentâs right on selected issues, like Ronald Reaganâs military operations against Libya and Grenada. He also capitalized on longtime conservative resentment of his moderate opponent, winning prized endorsements from William F. and James Buckley, icons of the right. Lieberman won the race narrowly in an upset.
Almost immediately, Senator Lieberman became closely associated with the Democratic Leadership Council. The group of mostly moderate elected officials focused on restoring the national political viability of a party that had lost five of the six previous presidential elections; it soon produced a president in Bill Clinton. Lieberman became probably the most systematically pro-Clinton (or in the parlance of the time, âNew Democratâ) member of Congress. This gave his 1998 Senate speech condemning the then-presidentâs behavior in the Monica Lewinsky scandal as âimmoralâ and âharmfulâ a special bite. He probably did Clinton a favor by setting the table for a reprimand that fell short of impeachment and removal, but without question, the narrative was born of Lieberman being disloyal to his party.
Perhaps it was his public scolding of Clinton that convinced Al Gore, who was struggling to separate himself from his bossâs misconduct, to lift Lieberman to the summit of his career. Gore tapped the senator to be his running mate in the 2000 election, making him the first Jewish vice-presidential candidate of a major party. He was by all accounts a disciplined and loyal running mate, at least until that moment during the Florida recount saga when he publicly disclaimed interest in challenging late-arriving overseas military ballots against the advice of the Gore campaign. You could argue plausibly that the ticket would have never been in a position to potentially win the state without Liebermanâs appeal in South Florida to Jewish voters thrilled by his nomination to become vice-president. But many Democrats bitter about the loss blamed Lieberman.
As one of the leaders of the âClintonianâ wing of his party, Lieberman was an early front-runner for the 2004 presidential nomination. A longtime supporter of efforts to topple Saddam Hussein, Lieberman had voted to authorize the 2003 invasion of Iraq, like his campaign rivals John Kerry and John Edwards and other notable senators including Hillary Clinton. Unlike most other Democrats, though, Lieberman did not back off this position when the Iraq War became a deadly quagmire. Ill-aligned with his party to an extent he did not seem to perceive, his presidential campaign quickly flamed out, but not before he gained enduring mockery for claiming âJoe-mentumâ from a fifth-place finish in New Hampshire.
Returning to the Senate, Lieberman continued his increasingly lonely support for the Iraq War (alongside other heresies to liberalism, such as his support for private-school education vouchers in the District of Columbia). In 2006, Lieberman drew a wealthy primary challenger, Ned Lamont, who soon had a large antiwar following in Connecticut and nationally. As the campaign grew heated, President George W. Bush gave his Democratic war ally a deadly gift by embracing him and kissing his cheek after the State of the Union Address. This moment, memorialized as âThe Kiss,â became central to the Lamont campaignâs claim that Lieberman had left his party behind, and the challenger narrowly won the primary. However, Lieberman ran against him in the general election as an independent, with significant back-channel encouragement from the Bush White House (which helped prevent any strong Republican candidacy). Lieberman won a fourth and final term in the Senate with mostly GOP and independent votes. He was publicly endorsed by Newt Gingrich and Rudy Giuliani, among others from what had been the enemy camp.
The 2006 repudiation by his party appeared to break something in Lieberman. This once-happiest of happy political warriors, incapable of holding a grudge, seemed bitter, or at the very least gravely offended, even as he remained in the Senate Democratic Caucus (albeit as formally independent). When his old friend and Iraq War ally John McCain ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, Lieberman committed a partisan sin by endorsing him. His positioning between the two parties, however, still cost him dearly: McCain wanted to choose him as his running mate, before the Arizonanâs staff convinced him that Liebermanâs longtime pro-choice views and support for LGBTQ rights would lead to a convention revolt. The GOP nominee instead went with a different âhigh-risk, high-rewardâ choice: Sarah Palin.
After Barack Obamaâs victory over Liebermanâs candidate, the new Democratic president needed every Democratic senator to enact the centerpiece of his agenda, the Affordable Care Act. He got Liebermanâs vote â but only after the senator, who represented many of the countryâs major private-insurance companies, forced the elimination of the âpublic optionâ in the new system. It was a bitter pill for many progressives, who favored a more robust government role in health insurance than Obama had proposed.
By the time Lieberman chose to retire from the Senate in 2012, he was very near to being a man without a party, and he reflected that status by refusing to endorse either Obama or Mitt Romney that year. By then, he was already involved in the last great project of his political career, No Labels. He did, with some hesitation, endorse Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in 2016. But his long odyssey away from the yoke of the Democratic Party had largely landed him in a nonpartisan limbo. Right up until his death, he was often the public face of No Labels, particularly after the groupâs decision to sponsor a presidential ticket alienated many early supporters of its more quotidian efforts to encourage bipartisan âproblem-solvingâ in Congress.
Some will view Lieberman as a victim of partisan polarization, and others as an anachronistic member of a pro-corporate, pro-war bipartisan elite who made polarization necessary. Personally, I will remember him as a politician who followed â sometimes courageously, sometimes foolishly â a path that made him blind to the singular extremism that one party has exhibited throughout the 21st century, a development he tried to ignore to his eventual marginalization. But for all his flaws, I have no doubt Joe Lieberman remained until his last breath committed to the task he often cited via the Hebrew term tikkun olam: repairing a broken world.
People, I of all people was the one screaming on the blogs and yellling at the Kerry camp to get into the negative attack mode or be wiped out. Its work…at least for now. Kerry is showing fire, now lets hope that Shrum’s ass is gone before he screws things up in October. You simply have to fight fire (or slime) with fire. Now, things would be much better for me if I knew Carville was on board and leading us on to victory. I still think we need to all call and email the kerry people and DNC, demanding Carville in position.
Now that said, I actually am much more optimistic than most. Let’s say Time is right, 52% would vote for Bush, after all the lovefest and positive Bush week… and he is the president… he can only muster a little over 50%??? That’s pathetic. I was expecting after all the Swift boat smears and kerry bashing at the convention, Bush would be at least at 55-57%
If you look at some of the other data in the Time poll, only 48% approve of Bush and the economy. In other words this is still very winnable if…….and this is a big if..Kerry continues to have balls and not play nice and loovy doovy like this past month and Half. Americans want strong leaders, Kerry must shove the lies, smears and record down Bush’s throat and never let up until after the inauguration.
I still believe we need a 527 to start the smear ad campaigns regarding Bush (awol, cocaine, drunk driving, etc.) Where can I send my $$$?? And no, Moveon is not it –they are also in the nice play it safe commercial mode. I want smears!!!
I’m with those who want a fierce, aggressive, no holds barred campaign against Bush and Cheney. I’m loaded for bear! And for those who looked at the (outlier) Time poll and are ready to slit their wrists…could you vote absentee first?
Bush and Cheney’s speeches reflect the utter detachment from reality that have characterized this Administration.
With the middle class squeezed, his Administration has been able to think of nothing more creative or effective to do than shovel money to the wealthiest people in the country instead, of say, doing something about the health insurance mess we’re in, fulfilling his funding promise for the education bill he now brags about, doing a better job of reducing the vulnerability of our harbors and chemical plants to terrorist attack, or helping out states so they would not have to slash services or raise taxes as much. Did anyone else notice the notable omission of his prescription drug sellout bill? Guess that one wasn’t considered such a big hit after all, even by this group.
Concentrations of wealth at the top were increasing over the past two decades before Bush came in. So what does he do but exacerbate the trend with huge giveaways to the wealthiest Americans? Do we want a democracy and opportunity for all Americans, or more government of, by, and for the fortunate few? If he wanted to help fight the recession with tax cuts he would have directed the money to the middle class, which spends it faster, and certainly needs it more.
Let’s talk about who is unfit to be Commander in Chief. We are losing ground in the war on terror, not winning. Check out the facts cited by NBC in Josh Marshall’s post today. In his speech statement on this our President is as blind to the most important facts as he was when he took us to war in Iraq. How can we trust someone with that power who is so blind to reality? With North Korea already a nuclear power and Iran well on its way to becoming one on Bush’s watch, which side has demonstrated for all to see that it is unfit to run US foreign policy in these dangerous times? They’ve been wrong so often in how they have projected the results of their policies it’s amazing they can raise the question of who’s fit to be Commander in Chief with a straight face. As for “the President of 9/11”, any President would have gone to war with the Taliban after 9/11; Kerry would, however, have vanquished al qaeda’s Afghanistan forces instead of letting them regroup and multiply like this incompetent crowd has done.
The Washington Post seemed ok with the speech in their lead editorial today. They seem to have determined that this election will be decided on national security issues. I had thought the voters make these determinations. Silly me. But we know how tough-minded and prescient the Washington Post editorial writers have proven to be on issue after issue of pressing importance over the past few years.
If it were time for them to make their endorsement today they’d endorse Bush. That comes through loud and clear to me. Unbelievable how far the quality of that newspaper’s editorial judgments have fallen. They should have incinerated him over the slew of vacuous domestic policy talking points he tossed out last night at the same time as he called for making his tax cuts permanent.
Kerry wants to spend some money but he will raise some instead of pawning everything off on those to come. Some quaint notion of generational responsibility. The old Washington Post would have been able to tell the difference and call Bush’s proposed “domestic agenda” for the deficit-exploding fraud that it is. His domestic agenda is neither serious nor responsible. But, hey, this election is going to be decided on national security issues. The Washington Post editors have told us so.
Yes, I am ready for this campaign to begin.
Prof Wang raises an excellent point..that’s what Pollkatz attempts as well.
Caveat: GIGO
The meta analysis is only as good as the state polls it sums. A good number of these are either Zogby interactive internet or Robo Polls like Rasmussen or Survey USA…also a number are Strategic Vision a Republican outfit
Actually, I think the Zogby poll is probably more worrying than the Time poll. An apples to apples comparison:
August 14 – Kerry +7
Sept 2 – Bush +2
That’s a nine point turnaround in less than three weeks.
It was a BEAUTIFUL night in Springfield,Ohio last night waiting over two hours with thousands of people for a speech from Kerry and Edwards at Midnight,no less.It was worth the wait.Kerry came out swinging-finally.It’s time to get mad and get aggressive.When,oh when, are we going to finally understand that “good guys finish last”?We need to make sure that we don’t repeat the same mistakes as in 2000.Let’s keep talking about the issues and state the facts immediately after we’ve been misrepresented or flat out lied against and show the American people that they can trust us with safety/security because we’re just as tough as the other guy and WAY more intelligent and discerning.These debates are not going to get here soon enough.Side by side,issue to issue,intellect to…whatever-George won’t have a prayer!
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/columnist/2004-09-02-moore_x.htm
Michael Moore speaks
I’m not a polling expert but I do know something about statistics and probabity theory.
It’s my understanding that Electoral College Meta-Analysis using probability theory is a better indicator than biased polls.
Perhaps Ruy can comment.
From Prof. Sam Wang at Princeton University
http://synapse.princeton.edu/~sam/pollcalc.html
These calculations are based on state polls from RealClearPolitics and other sources, and are meant to be an objective statistical analysis. The three most recent polls for each state are averaged and the standard error of the mean is used to calculate the probability of every combination of possible state results.
Results for Friday, September 3, 2004
Today’s median (expected) outcome:
Kerry 274 EV, Bush 264 EV
Kerry 95% confidence band: 243-306 EV
Kerry Electoral College win likelihood: 61%
So even after the high water mark of the RNC Kerry/Edwards are looking pretty damn good.
The potential effects of bias or opinion shift are as follows. Probabilities greater than 99.99% are given as 100%.
3 points to Kerry: Kerry 342 EV (95% confidence 300-375 EV), win 99.99%.
2 points to Kerry: Kerry 317 EV (95% confidence 280-357 EV), win 99.4%.
1 point to Kerry: Kerry 294 EV (95% confidence 262-332 EV), win 92%.
1 point to Bush: Kerry 254 EV (95% confidence 231-284 EV), win 17%.
2 points to Bush: Kerry 236 EV (95% confidence 216-265 EV), win 1%.
3 points to Bush: Kerry 223 EV (95% confidence 199-248 EV), win 0.02%.
It would be a better idea for Kerry blogs and supporters to start dissecting the Bush speech and highlighting its failures and shortcomings. This would help immensely to reduce the convention bounce at a more rapid rate and get Kerry back into the lead.
Every Kerry blog that I have travelled to is more or lest lamenting the Bush bounce and are starting to castigate the Kerry program. Too much time is spent rehashing the poll stats, even tho its known that no one seems to know how the numbers are derived and if they really serve any useful purpose. LVs and RVs, who knows what will be the net results from either group? No One. So lets support kerry with things that we are sure of.
If the blogs can force the media to start to critique Bush’s speech then it might do Kerry a wealth of good. Can we try this as a way to help?
I think this 300 billion! yes 300 billion! dollars this war is costing would be of some concern to the electorate. Maybe this is not being driven home hard enough! Imagine what that money could do for the country if we spent it here at home!………..
I don’t buy the argument that this is just the usual convention bounce. After all a few weeks ago everyone was busy explaining why Kerry didn’t get the usual bounce after the Dem convention and why it didn’t really matter.
Still I hadn’t realized that the Zogby poll was over the same period; I thought that the Time poll was the only one with polling on September 2. It may well be that Time is an outlier. I guess we have to wait and see.
I still think that Kerry was way too lethargic in responding to the Swift Boat attacks and that it has cost him much of what he gained during the convention.
However OTOH Bush may also be vulnerable on the sheer incoherence of his domestic agenda. He can’t simultaneously cut the deficit, make his tax cuts permanent and also increase spending on this and that worthy initiative. He can’t simultaneously simplify the tax code and create new tax incentives for this and that worthy activity. If Kerry hammers at these contradictions it could damage Bush’s credibility.
Ya dance with what brung Bush down to paraphrase Darrell Royal…
Yes the Time poll is the most volatile of all of them for some reason….and if ARG and Zogby are correct Bush is in trouble still, this campaign has until last night been properly focused
They have to hit hard
And they have to do what Ruy has been urging now for months…
Attack on Irak
Incumbents have enjoyed an average bounce in the vote margin of 8 points.
Incumbents who went on to win reelection had an average lead of 27 points after their convention.
Indeed, the average elected incumbent — winners and losers — had a lead of 16 points after their conventions
per Mark Mellman
geeeeeeze.. I forgot to put that darn panic button under lock and key… now everybody seems to be pushing it again.. Will you guys please take your hands off that button and give it back here…
Kerry needs your support folks… not your condemnation… at least not at this time… after he wins…… please!!!!!
Thanks
Who answers their phone for these polls anyway? I rarely answer my home phone — I check to see who is calling from the answering machine and pick it up if I know them. I get a lot of no message calls.
I just really wonder how representative phone polls are these days. More people use cell phones and computers for communication. Are these people being polled at all?
What? No 15 point bounce? đ
The pollls you are seeing reflect the high water mark of Bush after after the RNC.
Kerry has already beaten Bush on all these REAL issues i.e. economy, jobs, healthcare, environment, failed foreign policy in Iraq and Afghanistan, etc.
Net Net: George W. Bush is a “FAILURE”….No ands, ifs or buts.
The ONLY thing Bush and GOP have to SELL is FEAR !!!
But Kerry is already hitting back on this accusing Republicans of hiding President Bush’s “record of failure” behind insults and their negative campaign of fear ( or terror )
Chill out and allow Kerry/Edwards to pummel the daylights out of Bush/Cheney on the economy, jobs, healthcare, environment, failed foreign policy and debate on the issues of fear ( or terror )
That’s it in a nutshell.
Kerry/Edwards are going to win !
What is Time the Jesus Christ of all polls? come on! none of the others show that kind of a bounce. Let’s wait a couple of weeks. It pissis me off that Bush can shit all over the place and he gets a pass. kerry lets a little fart and the News media is all over it for days. Another thing, Kerry was in Ohio today trying to tell those people about how poor the job numbers are. I don’t think many of those right wing evangilists care. Jesus is comming back and taking them up in the air; they don’t need a job…
The CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll of October 26, 2000 putting Bush up 13 over Gore was something for Democrats to panic over. I could care less about ANY poll immediately after the RNC, where a bounce of some level would be anticipated. Even a few days into November 2000, there were still polls with Bush up 5-9. The full final-three-month series of major polls in 2000 is shown at:
http://www.pollingreport.com/wh2genT.htm
By the way, does anyone have information on the internals of this new TIME poll (particularly the proportions of self-identified Democrats and Republicans in the sample)?
My guess is Time has some method where they push undecideds to choose a candidate — or they add in “leaners”. I’d sure like to see the internals there.
Remember, the Time poll after the DNC showed Kerry with a 9% lead, and was the clear outlier.
In addition to Zogby, ARG and the Economist polls were done almost the exact same time. Both of them show a tie — 47-47 for ARG, and 45-45 for Economist.
Don’t panic.
11 point lead, 9 point bounce – Time
THAT is something to worry about.
Bush has lower approval ratings now than he did the day he took office in January 2001. And that was after the ugly recount battle and an election where he got 1/2 million fewer votes than Gore. What in the world would make you think he can win this, a Time/CNN poll taken right after their biggest week of free publicity? Get serious people. But if some of you want to go slit your wrist today, go right ahead.
Bush ain’t up no 11%. For Heaven’s sake! All that poll would show is that (unless he has dramatically mobilized new voters) Bush picked up a percent or two baby-bounce in support and somehow pushed five or six percent back into play, which Kerry could easily regain most of anyway since they were previously for him in some soft, numb-nutted independent way. The Swift Boat Vets meme is past its high-water mark with 60 days left. Plenty of time for the press to turn the tide at their usually slow and inept pace. The fact is, they’ll just get bored of the SBVs and decide to cover the other guys for something to do. Because there ain’t no way they’re gonna cover something as boring as healthcare or economic policy between now and the election. They’ll die before they work that hard and risk creating any controversy. Bush screwed up with the SBVs. Mark my words. He put a sexy issue in play where the press had already given up trying to sort things out. Now it’s the only issue that will sell papers and allow the press to be above the fray. Time magazine! Read a real publication.
Not worth panicking yet. The Rasmussen Report poll has Bush ahead 49-45…and the Zogby poll with Bush ahead two points. I find it hard to believe there are that many undecideds out there that Bush could get enough of a bounce to get an 11 point lead.
That said, Kerry has run an abysmal campaign so far. From what I heard from him last night and today it sounds like he is finally going on the attack. I hope it isn’t too late.
“Likely voters” poll. Didn’t pick that up in the first blush of stunned surprise.
Would be interesting to see what the Registered voter totals were.
Might be a bit closer.
But still, kerry’s got a second race in his career where he was behind in September.
Remember Weld? Golden Boy of the Republican Party?
How about TIME:
Bush 52%
Kerry 41%
Kerry is toast
Er, “not because of one solitary poll” is what I meant.
OK, people, no wigging out, alright? It’s one poll. Deep breath–one poll, on its own, rarely tells you anything, as DR has frequently counseled us. You have to look at several polls, and follow trends within them, in order to have a good idea of what’s going on. And again with the LV issue–Time’s poll is likely voters, which DR just finished counseling us to take with a grain of salt.
So, once again, chill out. None of the other polls have shown anything remotely like this. Now, if every poll out there is showing results just like this within a week or two, well, then, maybe some wigging will be in order. But not now, not because of one solitary people. Take it easy and wait for more numbers to develop.
I was just about to link to the Time poll. I think Kerry is in serious trouble and this poll shows it beyond all doubt. I respect Mr Texeira but I think his recent analyses have been way too optimistic.
A lot of it has to with the incredibly soft coverage of the convention in the TV shows. The pundits were all over the Dems for their “Bush hatred” a few months back but generally gave the negative attacks on Kerry a pass. As far as I could tell there was little attempt to examine the truthfulness of the charges made against Kerry or to examine the feasibility of Bush’s domestic proposals given the massive deficits. The print media has done a better job but TV counts for much more with voters.
A lot of it is Kerry’s fault too though. He made his Vietnam service the heart of his convention speech and then allowed it to be ripped apart by the Swift Boat vets without a rapid response. For months we have been hearing how he won’t repeat the mistakes of Dukakis but that’s exactly what he has done.
Of course he still has time to recover but he needs to toughen up his campaign. This poll should be the wake-up call he needs.
Ruy you got to put up the Time poll it has Bush up 11 and although I don’t like it -it’s a poll we have to deal with. If this is confimed by others it wiil Show the Nazi tactics of the Bush campaign have worked—destroy and attack for a month and then have the shmuck give a speach and seem above it all due to his personal likeabilty—Kerry ceded a month to these slimeballs when you can’t give them a day.
What about the Time poll? ouch??
http://www.time.com/time/press_releases/article/0,8599,692562,00.html