More Believe Bush Behind Attack Ads

[Clinton Crusader]

August 28, 2004

Poll: More Believe Bush Behind Attack Ads

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 11:29 p.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) -- Americans increasingly believe President Bush's re-election campaign is behind the ads attacking Democrat John Kerry's Vietnam experience, a poll found.

Almost half in a poll taken this week say they think the president's campaign is behind the ads that try to undercut Kerry's medals for heroism while just over a third think the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is an independent group, the National Annenberg Election Survey found.

The Swift boat ads, which ran in three swing states earlier this month, challenged Kerry's wartime service in Vietnam for which he received five medals.

The public's belief that Kerry did not earn his medals grew to 30 percent when the attack ads got widespread publicity on cable news networks. But that number has dropped to 24 percent now.

Kerry's campaign has accused President Bush of involvement in the ad campaign, a charge that was stepped up after Bush campaign counsel Benjamin Ginsberg acknowledged he was advising the group and resigned Wednesday from the Bush campaign.

In polling from Monday through Thursday, 46 percent said they believed the Bush campaign was behind the ads and 37 percent said they thought the ads were done independently.

The president and his campaign staff have said repeatedly they have no connection to the ads, which have come under increasing criticism as Navy records and additional witnesses backed Kerry's version of events.

On Monday and Tuesday when the Kerry campaign was making the accusation Bush was involved, 42 percent said the Bush campaign was behind them and 41 percent said they were truly independent.

After Ginsberg resigned from the campaign on Wednesday, 50 percent said in polling the next two nights that the Bush campaign was connected to the ads and 34 percent said it was not.

Ginsberg and lawyers on the Democratic side have represented both the campaigns or party and outside groups running ads in the presidential race.

The poll of 1,244 adults was taken Aug. 23-28 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

:kick:

[Beetwasher]

1. Please Snip To Four Paragraphs, This is a Copyright Violation

It will be locked or deleted if you don't. You could also post a link...

Just FYI, there are already lot's of other threads about this poll...It's from last Friday...