A new
national poll shows that Vice President Al Gore, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, closed a huge gap with GOP nominee George W. Bush one day after news leaked that Gore was considering naming Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman as his running mate.
According to
Portrait of America, Gore has closed a one-time 18-point gap with Bush. As of today, Bush leads Gore 46.1 to 36 percent.
Gore plans a Nashville press conference today with Lieberman, a two-term senator with a reputation for integrity, to formally announce the Connecticut moderate as his choice for running mate.
It's virtually assured that delegates to the Democratic National Convention, to be held Aug. 14-19 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, will choose both men as the party's presidential and vice presidential duo for the Nov. 7 election.
The POA poll was conducted by Rasmussen Research, involving telephone surveys of 2,250 likely voters from August 5, 6, and 7. The margin of sampling error for the full, three-night sample is +/- 2 percentage points, with a 95 percent level of confidence.
Last week, following the GOP national convention in Philadelphia, Bush received his biggest lead yet over Gore, as his
polling numbers grew
to a nearly 18-point lead.
POA analysts said candidates traditionally get bumps in national polls following their party's nominating convention. They added that they expect to see the same bump in the polling figures after Gore and Lieberman are officially nominated next week.
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