Bush has double-digit poll lead on Kerry

1.30pm

NEW YORK - United States president George W Bush has emerged from the Republican National Convention with an 11-point lead over Democrat John Kerry, according to a Newsweek poll released today. It is the second straight survey showing Bush ahead by double digits.

The Newsweek poll of 1008 adults conducted on Thursday and Friday US time showed Bush leading Kerry by 52 per cent to 41 per cent among registered voters, with independent Ralph Nader at 3 per cent. The survey had a 4-point margin of error.

That represented a 13-point bounce for Bush since an August 5-10 poll by Princeton Survey Research Associates International for the Pew Research Centre, Newsweek said. Polls for months had shown Bush and Kerry running neck and neck.

A Time poll released on Friday showed Bush leading Kerry by an identical margin in a three-way race with Nader for the Nov. 2 election. That survey polled 926 likely voters from Tuesday to Thursday during the convention in New York that nominated Bush for a second term.

Newsweek's survey found that while 49 per cent of respondents were dissatisfied with the country's direction versus 43 per cent who were satisfied, Bush's approval rating rose to 52 per cent. That was up 7 points since the magazine's last poll in late July and the first time it rose higher than 50 per cent since January.

Fifty-three per cent of registered voters also wanted to see Bush re-elected, the poll found. The last time a majority of Americans favoured his re-election was May 2003, Newsweek said.

Among registered voters, 60 per cent thought Bush would do a better job on terrorism and national security, versus 32 per cent for Kerry. Bush was also favoured over Kerry on foreign policy by 54 per cent to 38 per cent, the situation in Iraq by 55 per cent to 37 per cent and the economy by 49 per cent to 43 per cent.

Respondents preferred Kerry to Bush on health care and the environment.

Twenty-eight per cent of registered voters saw terrorism and homeland security as the most important issue, followed by 21 per cent for the economy, 13 per cent for health care and 11 per cent for the situation in Iraq.

- REUTERS