Yesterday afternoon I mentioned the Time poll that showed Bush with 52% to Kerry’s 41% (You should look at the details within the poll, all to Bush’s advantage). The pro-Democratic talking heads (and some news anchors, of course), were downplaying the Time Poll, saying it could be a fluke, and so on. Well, das ist alles, baby. Now a Newsweek poll has been released that confirms the lead. Newsweek has Bush ahead 52 to 41 (without Nader it is Bush 54 to 43). But it gets even better for Bush: "The poll was taken over two nights, both before and after Bush’s acceptance speech. Respondents who were queried only on Friday, after Bush’s speech, gave the Republican a 16-point lead over Kerry." That’s a sixteen point lead. But sticking with the 52-41 lead that is an 11 point bounce. I was wrong in predicgting something between 5 and 7. Sorry, my pessimism got the best of me, temporarily. It won’t happen again.

"The poll shows that Bush and Cheney have gained ground, and now lead, on almost all key election issues: The president’s approval rating is back over the halfway mark (52 percent, with 41 percent disapproving) after having slipped to 45 percent in July; his favorability ratings (55 percent favorable versus 40 percent unfavorable) are the highest they have been all year, after having fallen to 48 percent unfavorable in the poll at the end of the DNC. And with perceptions of the president climbing back from a low over last month, more registered voters say they would like to see Bush reelected than not (53 percent versus 43 percent)—the most favorable ratio he has had since July, 2003."

And there is more: "As Bush’s numbers climb, those of his challenger appear to have sunk to their lowest point this year. Solid majorities of registered voters now view the president as personally likeable (67 percent), someone who ’says what he believes and not just want people want to hear’ (66 percent), as a strong leader (65 percent) and someone who cares about people (53 percent)—which is significant for the ’compassionate conservative’ who had previously been struggling to appear empathetic."

This is what we used to call the THE BIG MO.