Convention Bounce Gives Gore 5-Point Lead

Aug. 21 -- Riding high on momentum from last week’s Democratic National Convention, Vice President Al Gore has catapulted to a five-point lead over Republican rival George W. Bush among registered voters.

According to a new ABCNEWS/Washington Post poll, the Democratic candidate has taken a 50-45 percent lead over Bush, erasing the commanding 14-point lead Bush built up at his own convention.

The five-point edge is Gore’s first in the presidential race since March.

Gore’s populist rhetoric appears to be resonating with voters: According to the survey, 62 percent of registered voters now think the vice president understands the problems of average people, vs. only 50 percent for Bush.

Dueling Tax Plans

Today on the campaign trail, Gore is putting the core Republican issue of tax cuts front and center, as he seeks to contrast his economic agenda with that of Republican opponent.

Gore is highlighting his own tax cut proposal while continuing to portray his opponent’s as a “risky scheme” that would squander the projected budget surplus, jeopardize the booming economy and disproportionately benefit the wealthy.

“They would focus the benefits of a giant tax cut on the wealthy at the expense of everyone else,” Gore told supporters at a rally in Quincy, Ill. this afternoon, “We don’t begrudge the wealthy a tax cut, but if it puts our economy into deficits again and offers just peanuts to middle class families … that’s not a good deal.”

Bush has proposed an across-the-board reduction in marginal income tax rates, which his economic advisers claim would cost $1.3 trillion over 10 years. But the Gore camp pegs the 10-year cost of the Bush plan at $2.1 trillion, and argues that such a sweeping tax cut would make new spending in vital areas such as education and health care impossible.

The vice president has offered a more modest half-billion dollar tax cut plan that includes tax credits for education costs, retirement savings and health and child care costs. Gore says his approach would provide greater relief to middle class taxpayers than Bush’s proposal.