Kerry: More exposure = less support

A just-released CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll adds credibility to the Mickey Kaus's "Stealth Candidate" theory. That is, the more people see of John Kerry, the less they like him:

In the survey, taken Friday and Saturday, the Democratic ticket of Kerry and John Edwards trailed the Republican ticket of Bush and Dick Cheney 50% to 46% among likely voters, with independent candidate Ralph Nader at 2%.

Before the convention, the two were essentially tied, with Kerry at 47%, Bush at 46%.

The change in support was within the poll's margin of error of +/- 4 percentage points in the sample of 763 likely voters. But it was nonetheless a stunning result, the first time in the Gallup Poll since the 1972 Democratic convention that a candidate seemed to lose ground at his convention.

Bwahahaha!!! Hey, at least all those Democratic delegates got to see Boston. Or not.

Media rewrite update – Draw your own conclusion, but in the article I copied yesterday, USA Today characterized Kerry’s poll slide as “stunning.” Today, the same link lists it as “surprising.” (HT to Jayson – see comments) Meanwhile, Wizbang found that CNN hopefully notes that there’s no Kerry bounce “so far.” Nope, no bias here.