Nation Poll of Battleground Nader Voters-without Nader 49% Kerry 17% Bush

[unfrigginreal]

article | Posted October 22, 2004
Nader's Flawed Calculus
by John Nichols

From the beginning of his independent campaign for the presidency, Ralph Nader has argued that he would draw as many or more votes from Republican George W. Bush as from his Democratic challenger.

But as election day approaches, it appears that Nader's calculus is off.

If Nader were not on the ballot in key battleground states, according to a new poll conducted for The Nation Institute, three times as many of his backers in those states would vote for Democrat John Kerry as for Bush.

That's a far cry from the picture Nader has been painting as he has continued to campaign in battleground states. In late September, in an interview with The Nation, Nader said, "You are going to be surprised at the number of Republicans who back our campaign. We are going to help beat Bush in a number of these states."

snip

Were Nader not in the running, 49 percent of his backers said they would switch to Kerry. Only 17 percent indicated a preference for Bush. Another 24 percent said they were unsure what they would do, while just 10 percent indicated that they would not vote.

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml%3Fi=20041108&s=nichols2

Poll Details

http://www.nationinstitute.org/pdf/naderpoll.pdf