CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll Presumes 90% of Undecideds Go to Kerry
Nine out of ten "undecided" voters will go for John Kerry over George W. Bush? That's the assumption which allowed Gallup to alter its final pre-election poll, from a 49 to 47 percent lead for Bush amongst "likely voters," to a 49-49 tie. "Democrat ties Bush nationally," declared the subhead under a Monday USA Today front page story, about the CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, in which reporter Susan Page's lead touted how "Kerry has erased President Bush's modest lead." She explained that "Gallup's formula assumes that 9 of 10 of those [undecided] voters would support Kerry, based on analyses of previous presidential races involving an incumbent." In fact, that level of an extreme split has not occurred in any modern election and, in calculating its final poll tally, the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press estimated that the "undecided vote may break only slightly in Kerry's favor."
An excerpt from the top of Page's November 1 USA Today front page story, "Swing states lean to Kerry: Democrat ties Bush nationally":
Sen. John Kerry has erased President Bush's modest lead and the two candidates head into Election Day tied at 49%-49%, a nationwide USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll shows as an extraordinarily bitter and expensive campaign prepared to end.
Across the dozen battleground states expected to determine the winner, Kerry holds a 5-percentage-point edge -- including small leads among likely voters in the critical states of Ohio and Florida. He trails by a similar margin in the third big battleground, Pennsylvania. (Related link: States pushed to front of race)
But USA TODAY polls nationwide and in six competitive states show a contest that either candidate could win....
Last week, Bush led Kerry 51%-46%.
The new survey of 1,573 likely voters, taken Friday through Sunday, has a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.
"It seems like a scary Halloween for George Bush," Kerry pollster Mark Mellman says. "People in this country clearly want a fresh start."
Matthew Dowd, chief strategist for the Bush campaign, said that the race is close but that Bush is in a good position. He disputes Gallup's assumptions about the 3% of likely voters who said they were undecided.
Gallup's formula assumes that 9 of 10 of those voters would support Kerry, based on analyses of previous presidential races involving an incumbent.
Without allocating those voters, Bush led Kerry 49%-47% among likely voters. Among the larger group of registered voters, Kerry led Bush 48%-46%....