Kerry grows stronger despite recent attacks on his Vietnam record

You know how all those pundits on television have been telling us for a week now that the Swift Boat Veterans for Bush have hurt Kerry among veterans and that all this questioning of Kerry's Vietnam era past must be hurting him?

Well, with only one poll from CBS News (that's nearly a week old and shows Kerry and Bush tied, but with Kerry losing some support among veterans as compared to an earlier post-convention poll)to base this on, most pundits are simply talking out their ass. However, we do have a couple new state polls that show Kerry growing stronger, not weaker.

One, in Florida, shows a slight improvement from before the convention:

Gallup. 8/20-22. MoE 4%. (7/19-22 results)

Likely Voters

Bush/Cheney 48 (50)
Kerry/Edwards 47 (47)

Registered Voters

Bush/Cheney 46 (49)
Kerry/Edwards 46 (45)

Other recent polling out of Florida (see to your right) shows Kerry ahead. Gallup has been among the least favorable to Kerry in their polling nationally and state by state in recent months.

A new poll from Republican leaning Maricopa County, which accounts for nearly 60% of the vote in Arizona shows a very slim Bush lead:

Registered Voters

Bush 46 (48)
Kerry 41 (36)

Accompanying the poll from Behavioural Research is their analysis (courtesy of dailykos.com)

President George W. Bush holds a decreasing and surprisingly narrow five-point lead over Democrat John Kerry in predominately Republican Maricopa County [...] What is more, since Maricopa County accounts for close to 60 percent of the vote in Arizona, the Bush lead appears to have narrowed to such a degree that the election could be determined in the outlying counties and, particularly in Pima County, which has traditionally favored Democratic candidates.    

Among voters most likely to go to the polls in any election, Mr. Bush has a wider eleven-point lead, but with a strong voter turnout expected in this year's hotly-contested presidential election, the narrower lead is probably the more realistic projection to watch.

If things keep going like this, we may be able to remove Florida from the 'Top 5 Most Contested States' list to your right and replace it with Arizona. Wouldn't that be fun? And what was all that about those Swift Vets having a negative effect on Kerry? Correct me if Im wrong, but don't lots of veterans live in Arizona?