Kerry or Romney: Who came closer to winning the presidency?

[IceSpear]

No I'm trying to ask who ran the better challenger campaign, results aside

Still Kerry. Obama's approval numbers were fairly weak from the very beginning, but Romney couldn't capitalize on it. Kerry managed to whittle down Dubya's once strong approval into a near deadlock, then came one state away from a victory.

No, Bush's approval rating rose through out 2004. Bush's had mid 40s approval in early 2004. Every single president running for re-election, including even Carter had rising approvals as the elections year progressed.

Bush's approval rating was very high in January '04. It fell as he gained scrutiny after the Democratic primary, then rose again near the election.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_bush_job_approval-904.html

Your link shows nothing of the sort.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/116500/presidential-approval-ratings-george-bush.aspx

What I see is an approval rating at or under 50% for the entire year of 2004 with an uptick from mid 2004 until the end. You fail (the peak in late 2003 was due to capturing Saddam Hussein)

So apparently you're blind and can't read your own links. Both the aggregate and Gallup show Bush with a high approval rating in January 2004.

Do you not see the bounce in Dec 2003??? It was short lived. But the trend is upward for Bush though out 2004, not downward. Youre focused on a one time event rather than looking at the trend.

Youre really not good at understanding long term trends. So I am right in that your job you dont analyze data and youre not very analytical. Math isnt your strength

I am looking at the trend. I remarked that his approval started off high in early 2004, you said it didn't. Both links show that it objectively did. An approval rating of 58-37 in mid Jan doesn't exactly fit your description of "mid 40s."

[bedstuy]

Bush got a big bounce out of the capture of Saddam Hussein, for some reaosn.  That's probably what you're looking at.

[TDAS04]

Kerry. 

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Bush got a big bounce out of the capture of Saddam Hussein, for some reaosn.  That's probably what you're looking at.

Oh, please. Put your cursor over the RCP graph and notice that Bush had 52/41 approval as late as 1/24/04. This is more than just a december 2003 thing. In fact, Bush was in positive territory for all of January, February, March, and April 2004.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Didn't Bush have positive approval ratings from his inauguration all the way to November 2004?

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Didn't Bush have positive approval ratings from his inauguration all the way to November 2004?

He was underwater in summer 2004.

[SingingAnalyst]

Kerry. He only needed to swing a tiny fraction of the votes in NM, IA, OH to win. In 2012 even if Obama's share of the vote were 2.5% lower, and Romney's 2.5% higher, in every state, Romney still would have lost (though he would have won the popular vote).