The closeness of the race for the White House comes as polls offered the first hint that the questioning of Kerry’s medal-winning service in the Vietnam War — allegations that he strongly condemned this week as lies — were taking a political toll.
One poll found that more than half the voters questioned had seen or heard of an ad by Swift Boat Veterans For Truth that accuses Kerry of lying about events that earned him five medals in Vietnam a generation ago. The University of Pennsylvania’s National Annenberg Election Survey also found that 44 percent of self-described independent voters found the ad very or somewhat believable.
Separately, a CBS poll found a sharp drop in Kerry’s support among both veterans and a smaller erosion among independents since the end of the Democratic Convention.
