Bush's lead over Kerry narrows in latest Time poll

11.00am

President George W Bush led Democratic nominee John Kerry by 6 percentage points in a TIME Magazine poll released today, compared with an 11-point lead in a similar poll two weeks ago.

Forty-eight per cent of likely voters surveyed said they would vote for Bush, and 42 per cent said they would vote for Kerry, according to the magazine's latest poll. Five per cent said they would vote for Ralph Nader.

Among registered voters, 48 per cent said the United States was right to go to war against Iraq, down five points from two weeks ago.

According to the poll, 37 per cent of registered voters said that Bush has been "truthful in describing the situation" in Iraq, and 55 per cent said the "situation is worse than Bush has reported."

The TIME Magazine poll was conducted by telephone from Sept. 21 to 23 among a random sample of 1,178 adults including 1,014 reported registered voters and 877 likely voters. The margin of error for registered voters is about 3 percentage points, and the margin for those likely to vote is 4 percentage points.

- REUTERS