Bush Ahead Among Key Groups
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President Bush has taken a lead over Democrat John Kerry (search) among key groups such as Catholics and those with a high school education — largely because of voter doubts about Kerry, a poll suggests.
Bush was backed by 48 percent and Kerry by 40 percent among registered voters in the poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press (search).
Bush has gained ground on Kerry, even though he has less of an advantage on who would be best in handling Iraq — now 46 percent for Bush to 38 percent for Kerry. Kerry inspires more confidence than the president on handling the economy and trails by 24 percentage points on handling terrorism.
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The two are even among women and young adults. Bush has a 49-39 lead among Catholics, a 50-37 lead among those with a high-school education — groups that Kerry needs to win.
The poll of 948 registered voters was taken Sept. 22-26 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.