Edwards gives Kerry a boost to beat Bush: Poll

The survey of 1,001 adults, to be published in the July 19 issue of the magazine, was taken on July 8-9 and has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.

It was the first Newsweek poll since Kerry chose the North Carolina lawmaker as his running mate on July 6. Kerry led Bush 46 per cent to 45 per cent in the mid-May survey. But in a three-way race with independents Ralph Nader and Peter Camejo, Kerry-Edwards edged Bush-Cheney by a slimmer margin, just 47 per cent to 44 per cent. Nader-Camejo drew support from 3 per cent of those polled.

The poll comes amid speculation Cheney may be hurting Bush’s chances of re-election. However, the Newsweek poll said that if Bush replaced Cheney with Secretary of State Colin Powell, the ticket would defeat Kerry-Edwards by 53 per cent to 44 per cent.