Dueling Polls
May 5th, 2008 at 9:15 am by Susie
I report, you decide:
Barack Obama’s national standing has been significantly damaged by the controversy over his former pastor, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, raising questions for some voters about the Illinois senator’s values, credibility and electability.
The erosion of support among Democrats and independents raises the stakes in Tuesday’s Indiana and North Carolina primaries, which represent a chance for Obama to reassert his claim to a Democratic nomination that seems nearly in his grasp. A defeat in Indiana and a close finish in North Carolina, where he’s favored, could fuel unease about his ability to win in November. Such results also could help propel Hillary Rodham Clinton’s uphill campaign all the way to the Democratic convention in August.
WASHINGTON — A majority of American voters say that the furor over the relationship between Senator Barack Obama and his former pastor has not affected their opinion of Mr. Obama, but a substantial number say that it could influence voters this fall should he be the Democratic presidential nominee, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.
At the same time, an overwhelming majority of voters said candidates calling for the suspension of the federal gasoline tax this summer were acting to help themselves politically, rather than to help ordinary Americans. Mr. Obama’s rival for the Democratic nomination, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, has made the suspension of the gas tax a centerpiece of her campaign in recent days.
Keep up the good work.
Campbell
actually, i don’t think the polls are really that inconsistent with each other. the biggest different seems to be the spin each article is placing on their respective data. for example, the u.s.a. today poll (the one that supposedly shows that obama’s standing has “been significantly damaged” by the wright kerfuffle, showed no significant change in obama’s favorability/unfavorability rating in the past month (it went from 60%/34% to 58%/37% with a MOE of +/-3%)
the wright-specific questions in each poll are very different from one another (u.s.a. today asks more questions whereas the NYT/CBS polls just has respondents state whether they think the controversy will affect anyone’s votes in the fall)