Gore overtakes Bush in poll rating

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, AUG. 20. The Democratic nominee for the Presidential elections, Mr. Al Gore, has got his first piece of good news in several weeks - the latest polls show Mr. Gore leading his Republican counterpart, Mr. George W. Bush, by eight percentage points. For a person who has been all along trailing Mr. Bush, the Vice-President had the support of 52 per cent as against 44 per cent for Mr. Bush in the latest Newsweek poll of registered voters.

For Mr. Gore and his campaign, this is the first indication of the party convention's ``bounce''. Mr. Gore had to come off from the convention at Los Angeles in a strong fashion if the momentum was to be sustained. Last Thursday, Mr. Gore, among other things, laid out his agenda in precise terms as also in making the point very clear that he should not be seen as being in the shadows of the President, Mr. Bill Clinton. ``I am my own man'', he remarked. Right through the Democratic show last week, there was the concern that Mr. Gore was not making sufficient impact.

On his boat ride along the Mississippi, Mr. Gore was enthusiastic about the latest news on the polling front. ``People are now just beginning to pay close attention to the election'', he said. And hundreds of miles away in New Mexico, the response of the Bush camp was along expected lines. ``Like we have said all along, let's see where things are around Labour Day'', a spokesman for the campaign said. Conventional wisdom has it that the candidate leading the polls on Labour Day in the first week of September will have the edge in the November poll.

Mr. Gore's acceptance speech in Los Angeles has been received well by a cross section of the country, the main emphasis being that it was sound in specifics as far as policy alternatives were concerned. The Grand Old Party has hit out at the Gore speech as being divisive.

The strategy of the Gore campaign for the next two weeks will be to stay the course and ensure that the current lead at the polls stays that way. For Mr. Bush, it is one of taking on the Democratic opponent without being seen as leaning too heavily on partisan attacks.

The challenge for Mr. Gore is also the Green Party candidate, Mr. Ralph Nader, who is courting labour unions and environmentalists very actively. Mr. Nader is hurting the Democratic candidate in key areas of the Mid-West and the West. In a hypothetical four- way race in the latest Newsweek poll involving Mr. Nader and the Reform Party candidate, Mr. Patrick Buchanan, Mr. Gore leads Mr. Bush by six percentage points. The Green Party candidate registers between three and six percentage points. The same is not the case for Mr. Buchanan who hardly makes an impact.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : International
Previous : Israeli Phalcon sale to India in trouble
Next     : Japan, N. Korea seek to normalise ties