President Bush has opened up a lead over Sen. John Kerry in the latest voter survey, despite the addition of John Edwards to the Democratic ticket and 48 hours of non-stop media gushing over the selection.

The new Associated Press poll, released late Thursday afternoon, shows Bush-Cheney leading Kerry-Edwards by 49 to 45 percent.

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The Bush lead represents a five point improvement for the president, who was trailing Kerry in the same poll before Edwards joined his ticket.
That poll showed a hypothetical Kerry-Edwards ticket at 47 percent and Bush-Cheney at 44 percent.

In more bad news for the Kerry camp, the new AP poll showed that President Bush had regained the confidence of some voters on the economy and other domestic issues.

Typically, a vice presidential selection and the publicity that accompanies it gives a presidential ticket a significant boost. In 2000, Al Gore's decision to tap Sen Joe Liberman as his running mate gave the Democratic ticket a 15-point bounce.

Eight years earlier, presidential candidate Bill Clinton got a 19-point bounce with the addition of Gore to his ticket.

But with new poll by one of the liberal media's most respected news organizations now showing that the selection of Edwards may have actually hurt Kerry, Democrats have reason to be more concerned than ever about their prospects in November.

you put a liar, I mean lawyer, on the ticket.

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Those who think they know everything, usually know the least.

and one with very little experience in politics at that.

The only thing he is good for is ambulance chasing.

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Those who think they know everything, usually know the least.

That's the only July poll that shows Bush in the lead. A number of others show otherwise--poll debunked HERE.

For complete, already-existing thread on this topic, click here.

For an ongoing check of MAJOR polls (and this obscure AP poll isn't one of them), click here.

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HuffPo's Off The Bus campaign coverage project....Off The Bus Blog

MSNBC reported that the Edwards VP announcement gave Kerry an 8 or 9 point boost. This was reportedly about the same number gained by Bush when he announced Cheney in 2000. Doesn't mean all that much.

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"The basic problems facing the world today are not susceptible to a military solution."

- JFK

and it has also been reported that these polls are not conducted like they should be either. For instance, most of them poll mostly registered Democrats for some reason. Doesn't it seem odd that so many polls can show conflicting information? That is why.

...but you don't mention that the AP is a righwing paper favorite wireservice, either....

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I shall continue to be an impossible person as long as those who are now possible remain possible.
HuffPo's Off The Bus campaign coverage project....Off The Bus Blog

maybe the truth lay somewhere in between, though maybe not exactly on the median....

Hard to say. The Pew Foundation found THESE problems with polling. And you didn't counter my charge of special-interest polling with the fact that Zogby Poll is founded/run by someone who has held high office inside the Democrat Party. And we all know how rightwing Fox News polls are...and yet...when you check out its July poll, it gives not even a slight edge of Bush over Kerry, not even by a point.

Always consider the source and always look at more than one poll.

__________________
I shall continue to be an impossible person as long as those who are now possible remain possible.
HuffPo's Off The Bus campaign coverage project....Off The Bus Blog