The newly released AP-Ipsos national poll shows Wesley Clark emerging
as the Democratic candidate who would have the best chance of
defeating Bush. In head to head matchups Clark is only 7 points
behind Bush. The poll analysis shows "Bush is in
significantly better shape with the public than either Clinton or
the first President Bush were at this stage in their re-election
bids and about the same as Ronald Reagan before his landslide
re-election victory in 1984."
In head to head matchups with other Democratic candidates Bush is
15 points ahead of Dean, 17 points ahead of Kerry, and 21 points
ahead of Gephardt. The AP-Ipsos poll of 1,000 adults, including
774 registered voters, was taken Jan. 5-7 and had a margin of
sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. AP-Ipsos
shows that Clark would be the only candidate would break into the
overwhelming lead that Dean has in certain demographic groups and
could hold Bush to under 50%. The poll analysis indicates "men,
evangelicals and rural voters are supporting Bush by big
margins".
Bush 49%
Clark 42%
Bush 54%
Dean 39%
Bush 54%
Kerry 37%
Bush 56%
Gephardt 35%
Rob is
the founder and editor of the progressive news site robwire.com and is a
frequent contributor to rob.dailykos.com