[Mb-civic] Poll: More believe Bush Behind Attack Ads

[Barbara Siomos]

    The Associated Press 
    Saturday 28 August 2004
 
    New York - Americans increasingly believe President Bush's
re-election campaign is behind the ads attacking Democrat John Kerry's
Vietnam experience, a poll found. 

    Almost half in a poll taken this week say they think the
president's campaign is behind the ads that try to undercut Kerry's
medals for heroism while just over a third think the Swift Boat Veterans
for Truth is an independent group, the National Annenberg Election
Survey found.
 
    The Swift boat ads, which ran in three swing states earlier
this month, challenged Kerry's wartime service in Vietnam for which he
received five medals.
 
    The public's belief that Kerry did not earn his medals grew
to 30 percent when the attack ads got widespread publicity on cable news
networks. But that number has dropped to 24 percent now.
 
    Kerry's campaign has accused President Bush of involvement
in the ad campaign, a charge that was stepped up after Bush campaign
counsel Benjamin Ginsberg acknowledged he was advising the group and
resigned Wednesday from the Bush campaign.
 
    In polling from Monday through Thursday, 46 percent said
they believed the Bush campaign was behind the ads and 37 percent said
they thought the ads were done independently.
 
    The president and his campaign staff have said repeatedly
they have no connection to the ads, which have come under increasing
criticism as Navy records and additional witnesses backed Kerry's
version of events.
 
    On Monday and Tuesday when the Kerry campaign was making the
accusation Bush was involved, 42 percent said the Bush campaign was
behind them and 41 percent said they were truly independent.
 
    After Ginsberg resigned from the campaign on Wednesday, 50
percent said in polling the next two nights that the Bush campaign was
connected to the ads and 34 percent said it was not.
 
    Ginsberg and lawyers on the Democratic side have represented
both the campaigns or party and outside groups running ads in the
presidential race.
 
    The poll of 1,244 adults was taken Aug. 23-28 and has a
margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.