Who is winning the election? It depends on who you ask... and when.

I was watching ABC news online last night and though it was funny in a sad way (or sad in a funny way) that they had two conflicting stories about who is winning the election. One was probably put up a week before the other, but the numbers are too disparate to be accurate. I don't have their titles now, but I might add them tonight, so for now I'll call them Report A and Report B.

REPORT A: Which candidate do you trust more to handle the war in Iraq?

Bush: 52%

Kerry: 40%

REPORT B: Which candidate is more qualified to be Commander in Chief?

Bush: 44%

Kerry: 52%

That's not so bad, but wait, there's more.

REPORT A: Which candidate do you trust more to handle the economy?

Bush: 47%

Kerry: 46%

REPORT B: Candidate preference if top issue is economy?

Bush: 33%

Kerry: 60%

Hmmm, that's odd, especially when Report B is saying that John Kerry has "big leads on healthcare education, and even the economy as a whole."

Although neither report gave any details about who they were surveying, Report A certainly seemed more scientific, giving a margin of error (plus or minus 3%) and making comparisons to the same study done a month ago, while Report B gave nothing.

For all their inconsistencies, there were some things they both agreed on. They both supported the idea that (for better or worse) Kerry is not known as well as Bush. Report B said that 54% of registered voters do not understand where John Kerry stands on the issues and 60% of respondents to Report A said that Bush is more consistent while only 31% said Kerry is more consistent.

Here are a few more poll surveys that Report A gave.

Which candidate do you trust more to handle the terrorism?

A month ago	Bush: 48%	Kerry: 47%
Now	Bush: 55%	Kerry: 37%

Voters who think John Kerry understands their problems

A month ago	Kerry: 55%
Now	Kerry: 46%