When some of us in the blogosphere had been bummed out by the latest LA Times poll last week, I tried to cheer everyone up with news of this Economist/YouGov poll that still had Kerry up by 3 points in a three way matchup (4 points among "definite" voters). If that didn't make you happy, I have some more good news.

A new poll from NPR is now available that shows a Kerry lead of 50-45 in a two-way contest and 47-43 when Ralph Nader is factored in. Even more promising is the fact that Kerry's up 52-43 in "battleground states" in this poll, a significant lead. Additionally, Bush's approval rating (at 49%) is still under the magical number of 50%.

Methodology

• The reported results on public attitudes come from a national survey conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research (GQR) and Public Opinion Strategies (POS) for National Public Radio (NPR). The firms, together with NPR, developed questions to inform a news segment for Morning Edition.
  
• With a view to the upcoming elections, the survey was conducted with likely voters. All participants were registered voters, voted in the 2000 presidential election or the 2002 congressional elections (or were not eligible) and indicated they were almost certain or certain to vote in 2004. The sample of potential respondents was generated by random digit dial methodology. GQR interviewed 800 voters, with a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percent.

Let the naysayers naysay and let the pundits claim that John Kerry's finished, but just don't listen to them.

The polls are essentially even right now (if you use all of them as a massive sample), and the fact is that if the incumbent is tied at this point, chances are he's going to lose. I'm not saying that Kerry has this election locked up, because there is a lot that can still influence this election (the Republican National Convention, the Debates, an October suprise, etc.). Nonetheless, Kerry is in an enviable situation right now for a challenger, and that's a fact.