DEFEATISM:

Kerry Leading New Hampshire; Dean, Gephardt and Lieberman Distant Followers; 63% of Dems Say Bush Likely to be Re-elected, According to Zogby Poll (Zogby, February 25, 2003)

Weekend polling of likely New Hampshire voters in next January's first in the nation Democratic Presidential primary has Massachusetts Senator John Kerry with a strong lead (26%) over his next band of challengers, former Vermont governor Howard Dean (13%), Missouri Congressman Richard Gephardt (11%), and Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman (9%). No other contender polled more than 2%. Nearly three in ten (29%) remain undecided. [...]

Bush's job performance took a beating by Democrats in the Granite State, compared to recent national Zogby numbers: nearly three fourths of those
surveyed (74%) rated his job performance as fair or poor, while 26% said is was good or excellent. Four days earlier (February 20-21) on a national basis, 962 likely voters of all parties gave him a 57% good/excellent and 42% fair/poor.

Nonetheless, nearly two out of three (63%) Democratic and Independent likely primary voters in the New Hampshire poll said is was somewhat (44%) or very (19%) likely that Bush would be re-elected.

This may very well be the low point, politically, of the Bush presidency--with the economy floundering and anti-war forces at their peak, yet a large majority of Democrats expect him to be re-elected. When your own rank and file is that dispirited it's very hard to get them fired up to work on campaigns, contribute, etc., and, as the war and the economy turn around, it's only going to get worse. Posted by Orrin Judd at February 26, 2003 8:15 AM