Edited by author 12-29-2003 05:50 PM
The thing the pundits are ignoring about the Bush vs. Dean matchup numbers is that it's not yet a 1-to-1 matchup. Dean is competing with 8 other Democrats; his percentage is lowered by the people who won't vote for Bush but are thinking, "Eh, I'd rather it were [Edwards, Mosely Braun, Kucinich, Sharpton, Kerry, Lieberman, Gephardt, Clark]." Bush also has the advantage in name recognition and "better the devil we know". So 55-37 now isn't necessarily as good for Bush as it looks -- especially when you consider that when asked "Would you vote for Bush?" instead of "Which would you vote for, Bush or Dean?" the "yes" percentage is sliding below 50%.