Author Topic: Poll: Voters souring on McCain, Obama stays steady  (Read 350 times)

Hugo Chavez

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Poll: Voters souring on McCain, Obama stays steady
« on: October 17, 2008, 05:54:26 AM »
WASHINGTON (AP) — When it comes to the public's image of John McCain, it's as if somebody dialed the electricity down in the past month. For Barack Obama, the juice is still flowing.

People's regard for the Republican presidential nominee has deteriorated across-the-board since September, an Associated Press-Yahoo! News poll showed Friday, with McCain losing ground in how favorably he's seen and in a long list of personal qualities voters seek in White House contenders.

Perceptions of Obama have improved or remained steady. Beyond views of the two rivals' character traits, McCain faces another problem — Obama is more trusted on the economy, the contest's commanding issue, including a 15-percentage-point edge for better grasping how the raging financial crisis is affecting people.

Obama's image has been sturdy even as voters' views of the overall campaign have tumbled downhill since September. The portion of people saying the contest excites them has sunk to 32 percent while those calling it frustrating have grown to 41 percent — and in both cases, six in 10 of those whose feelings have worsened are McCain backers.

Negative campaigning and a month of intense public focus on collapsing global economic and financial markets have not been kind to McCain. The new AP-Yahoo! News poll of likely voters, conducted this month by Knowledge Networks, shows more people viewing him favorably than unfavorably by just 5 percentage points, down from a 21-point difference in mid-September.

During the same period, Obama went the other way, increasing a 5-percentage-point net favorable rating to 15 points. Now, Obama is seen favorably by 57 percent and McCain by 52 percent — a close margin that masks the opposite direction the two rivals' ratings are heading.

"He kind of scared me," Leesa Zick, 48, an undecided Republican from Edwardsville, Ill., said of McCain's abrupt and short-lived suspension of his campaign last month during Capitol Hill talks on a financial package. "We need a president who can deal with multiple tasks. It seemed like it overwhelmed him."

For McCain, the poll's good news is that despite a difficult month, his public image is not dramatically worse than Obama's and in several areas remains better. The public still rates him higher than Obama for keeping America safe, working with both political parties, and being decisive, experienced and competent.

"He's more qualified than Obama, definitely, because of his experience and history, " said Richard Tosti, 67, a Republican from Rochester, N.Y.

Zick and Tosti are among about 2,000 people the AP-Yahoo! News poll has been tracking since November. By repeatedly questioning them, the survey has opened a detailed window on how individuals have reacted to the campaign's twists and turns.

cont.... http://news.yahoo.com/page/election-2008-political-pulse-souring-on-mccain

LurkerNoMore

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Re: Poll: Voters souring on McCain, Obama stays steady
« Reply #1 on: October 17, 2008, 08:06:32 AM »
Obama 08?

No, Obama-4-8 (years)

Dem White House, Dem controlled Congress.... 

Hugo Chavez

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Re: Poll: Voters souring on McCain, Obama stays steady
« Reply #2 on: October 17, 2008, 08:11:19 AM »
Obama 08?

No, Obama-4-8 (years)

Dem White House, Dem controlled Congress.... 
I really hope so but then the fight will be to make sure they do right and to fight back against the sabotage attempts from the right.  Those who lived through the 90's know full well how far the right will go to destroy a dem admin.  If we are lucky to win, we cannot rest because the righties will start their assault in full without ethic.