WASHINGTON – As worries about the Iraq war (search) and terrorism have pushed ahead of the economy among the public's priorities, President Bush has edged ahead of Democratic challenger John Kerry (search), national polls suggest.
The ABC-Washington Post and CNN-USA Today-Gallup polls, both released Monday, showed Bush with a slight lead over Kerry in a three-way matchup with independent Ralph Nader (search).
Bush was up 48-43 over Kerry among registered voters, with Nader at 6 percent in the ABC-Post poll. In the CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll, Bush was ahead 50-44 among likely voters, with Nader at 4 percent.
Over the past few weeks, Bush has wiped out Kerry's advantage on all domestic issues except health care insurance, where Kerry still holds a small lead, the ABC-Post poll found. Bush still holds a double-digit lead over Kerry on the war in Iraq and fighting terrorism.
Bush and Kerry are now even on who people would trust to handle the economy, at 47 percent apiece. In early March, Kerry had a 12-point lead on that issue.
Four in five in the ABC-Post poll said Bush takes a position and sticks to it. Half that many said the same about Kerry. More said Bush was honest and trustworthy, 55 percent, than said that about Kerry, 49 percent.
The ABC-Post poll of 1,201 adults, including 1,024 registered voters, was taken April 15-18; the Gallup poll of 1,003 adults, including 767 likely voters, was taken April 16-18. Both have margins of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
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