Swing Voters View Bush Critically, Poll Finds

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/2004/complete/la-060404poll_lat,1,6183660,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines

A crucial slice of the American electorate — potential swing voters in battleground states — views President Bush's performance on Iraq and the economy less favorably than the public at large, according to a poll released today.

Despite that worrisome finding for Bush, the poll by the National Annenberg Election Survey also found that nearly half of those potential voters had no firm opinion of his presumed Democratic challenger, Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts.

The unusual survey underscored strengths and vulnerabilities for both Bush and Kerry among this narrow segment of voters, the main target of tens of millions of dollars in television ads by the two campaigns.

"The data suggests that these people are perhaps more available to Kerry than to Bush, because of their deep antagonism toward the situation in Iraq and their gloominess about the economy," said Adam Clymer, political director of the Annenberg survey.