New Knight Ridder/MSNBC Poll Shows Kerry Leads in Michigan, Oregon and Pennsylvania
October 21 2004 - 7:46PM
PR Newswire (US)
New Knight Ridder/MSNBC Poll Shows Kerry Leads in Michigan, Oregon
and Pennsylvania Ties With Bush in Wisconsin SAN JOSE, Calif., and
SECAUCUS, N.J., Oct. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The latest
results in a new series of election surveys, conducted for MSNBC
and Knight Ridder by Mason-Dixon, has found that Sen. John Kerry
leads President Bush in three battleground states (labeled "blue"
for their color coding on maps) that Gore won in the 2000 election
-- Michigan, Oregon and Pennsylvania. The two candidates are tied
in Wisconsin and President Bush leads by six points in Iowa. At
least 6% of voters remain undecided in each state. Less than two
weeks before Election Day, the Knight Ridder/MSNBC survey offers a
detailed look at the shifting state-by-state battleground where the
presidency will be decided. Poll results released last night for
the "red" states that voted for Bush in 2000 revealed that the
president continues to lead in Colorado, Missouri, New Hampshire,
West Virginia and Ohio. MSNBC/Knight Ridder will release a final
set of state-by-state polls prior to Nov. 2nd. The Knight
Ridder/MSNBC survey of 625 likely voters in each of the 5 states
was conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research on Oct. 15-18
and had an error margin of plus or minus four percentage points.
Following are the poll's top-line results: If the election were
held today would you vote for: IA MI OR PA WI Bush-Cheney 49 46 46
45 45 Kerry-Edwards 43 47 47 46 45 Nader-Camejo 1 -- -- -- 1 Other
-- -- 1 1 -- Undecided 6 6 7 8 9 The President's job approval
rating has weakened slightly in these states, currently hovering
just below 50%. The MSNBC/Knight Ridder poll found that the
president's overall approval rating has weakened slightly compared
to the poll's findings a month ago. IA MI OR PA WI Approve 49 47 47
48 47 Disapprove 43 45 46 46 45 Undecided 8 8 7 6 8 Survey
Methodology The results are the second of three series of swing
state polls to be conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research.
These polls measure voter favorability and voter preference for top
presidential candidates who appear on the 2004 general election
state ballot in the key swing states that voted for President Bush
in the 2000 election. The polls included questions aimed at
exploring the issues that may determine how undecided voters make
up their minds. States included in the poll are Iowa, Missouri,
Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The poll was conducted between
Oct. 15 and Oct. 18, 2004. The margin of error is +/-4 percent.
About Knight Ridder Knight Ridder is the nation's second-largest
newspaper publisher, with products in print and online. The company
publishes 31 daily newspapers in 28 U.S. markets, with a readership
of 8.7 million daily and 12.6 million Sunday. Knight Ridder also
has investments in a variety of Internet and technology companies
and two newsprint companies. The company's Internet operation,
Knight Ridder Digital, develops and manages the company's online
properties. It is the founder and operator of Real Cities
(http://www.realcities.com/), the largest national network of city
and regional Web sites in more than 100 U.S. markets. Knight Ridder
and Knight Ridder Digital are headquartered in San Jose, Calif.
About MSNBC MSNBC is a joint venture between NBC Universal, a
leading provider of news and information, and Microsoft, the leader
in personal computer software and a major provider of Internet
online services. Built on the worldwide resources of NBC News,
MSNBC is a 24-hour cable news network and Internet news service at
msnbc.com. About Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Inc.
Mason-Dixon is an independent polling firm that conducts voter
surveys for news media, advocacy groups, trade associations and
political action committees. Mason-Dixon is the nation's most
active state polling organization, conducting copyrighted public
opinion polls for news media organizations in all 50 states. These
media clients include over 250 local television affiliates and over
100 daily newspapers. Since 1983, Mason-Dixon Polling &
Research, Inc. has conducted surveys in every state in the country,
on almost every public issue, and tracked every major election and
referendum. DATASOURCE: Knight Ridder CONTACT: Annalise Carol,
+1-646-805-2023, or , for Knight Ridder; or Jeremy Gaines of MSNBC,
+1-201-583-5362, or Web site: http://www.knightridder.com/
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