The Web    CNN.com     
Powered by
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SERVICES
 
 
 
SEARCH
Web CNN.com
powered by Yahoo!
TRANSCRIPTS
Return to Transcripts main page

CNN LIVE AT DAYBREAK

Democrat Joe Lieberman Leads Democratic Field in White House Race

Aired September 2, 2003 - 06:52   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk some more politics this morning. Who's the front runner right now in the race for the White House?
Gallup Poll Editor-In-Chief Frank Newport has been crunching the numbers, as usual.

Good morning, Frank.

FRANK NEWPORT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, GALLUP POLL: Good morning, Carol.

Crunching numbers all weekend. You know, it depends on who you ask. The professionals, and to some degree the media, all say Howard Dean has the buzz. He has the fund raising and he also is leading in the New Hampshire primary polls, at least tied or leading. So a lot of people say Dean is the person to beat. But we're just not seeing it nationally.

Now, let me show you what we have in our latest CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll. This is among registered Democrats nationally. Who would you vote for? We read them a list of nine candidates. And Lieberman, as he is in all polls and as he has been for most of the year, leads among national Democrats. You can see Howard Dean down there essentially tied with Dick Gephardt and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, who will announce officially today that he's running.

Let me show you part of the issue here for Dean. He simply, despite all the publicity, is not that well known nationally. Dean is very well known in Iowa and New Hampshire. He's been in those states many, many times. But this is nationally. These are the people Democrats who tell us they can have an opinion of these people.

Lieberman, 73 percent of Democrats have an opinion. That's name I.D. for him. Gephardt, Kerry, you see the numbers get smaller. And Howard Dean, interestingly, Carol, only 43 percent of Democrats nationally say they know enough about him to give an opinion. So that's one of the reasons he's not doing as well when you ask Democrats across the country who are they going to vote for.

COSTELLO: Interesting.

Let's talk about approval ratings, as in President Bush.

NEWPORT: Well, interesting question. An incumbent running for reelection wants to have about 50 percent job approval rating, as does Bush right now. He's at 59 percent. I thought I'd put him in the context of the other recent four presidents who've ran for reelection. Look at the differences here. Clinton only had 46 percent back in August of '95. Bush, Sr. had 74, Reagan 43, Carter 32. My point here, Carol, is fairly clear, two people who won, Clinton and Reagan, were doing very poorly at this time, below 50 percent. And, of course, everybody remembers Bush, Sr., 74 percent in August of '91. Everybody thought he was a shoe-in. History tells us he lost.

COSTELLO: Oh, yes he did.

OK, the Senate is back today. The House is back on Thursday.

Do Americans think Congress is doing a good job?

NEWPORT: No, Americans, I would have to say, tragically, Carol, are not wildly enthusiastic about the job Congress is doing. It's kind of been going down. It was higher in April. This is congressional job approval. Remember, Bush is at 59, all the way down to 45 percent. That 45 percent job approval rating for Congress right now, by the way, Carol, is essentially tied for the lowest we've seen since 9/11.

COSTELLO: Ouch.

All right, Frank Newport, many thanks for a look at interesting numbers this morning.

To keep up with all the news on the campaign trail, be sure to tune in for "Inside Politics" with Judy Woodruff. That comes your way at 4:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com



House Race>


International Edition
CNN TV CNN International Headline News Transcripts Advertise With Us About Us
SEARCH
   The Web    CNN.com     
Powered by
© 2005 Cable News Network LP, LLLP.
A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us.
external link
All external sites will open in a new browser.
CNN.com does not endorse external sites.
 Premium content icon Denotes premium content.
Add RSS headlines.