The race for the White House between candidates of the two major political parties remains too close to call, according to new data from the nation’s top-rated polling firm.
In the latest
three-day Portrait of America Presidential Tracking Poll, Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore has managed to retain a slight lead in the popular vote over Republican challenger George W. Bush, reversing a weeks-long trend that had the Texas governor ahead at one point by
nearly 18 points.
The new poll, released today, shows Gore up with 42.6 percent compared to Bush’s 41.4 percent. The results reflect a nightly Portrait of America poll conducted Sept. 9, 10 and 11 with 2,250 likely voters.
Rasmussen Research conducted the poll, and analysts said the margin of sampling error is +/- 2 percentage points, with a 95 percent level of confidence.
Among the minor-party candidates, the Green Party nominee Ralph Nader has 2.9 percent; Reform’s Patrick J. Buchanan has 1.6 percent; Libertarian Harry Browne has 1 percent; Reform’s other candidate, Iowa physicist John Hagelin, has 0.3 percent; and the Constitution Party’s Howard Phillips has 0.2 percent.
On the campaign trail, the Federal Election Commission yesterday voted 5-1 to recognize Buchanan as the Reform Party’s legitimate presidential nominee, but has yet to award Buchanan with $12.6 million in federal election funds the party qualified to receive in 1996.
Hagelin has promised a court challenge if the FEC awards the campaign funds to Buchanan.
Elsewhere, Bush is on the defensive after Democrats and the Gore campaign charged that a campaign advertisement criticizing Gore’s health-care plans contained a subliminal message.
The ad, which has aired 4,400 times in about 22 markets and ends today, portrays Gore in the background with the word “RATS” in the foreground for just a fraction of a second before revealing the phrase, “Bureaucrats decide.”
Meanwhile, Gore is on the campaign trail in Maine touting his education reform plans while Bush campaigns in Washington state, telling voters about his plan to spruce up national parks.
Team Trump: Young, smart and ready to rumble
Bucky Fox