This poll includes likely voters.
There a few things to look over. First, John McCain has soiled his brand. Meaning, he took to the "dark side" of letting the former Rove strategists run his campaign into the ground. McCain is/was known as the "maverick", "straight talker", these two components are his brand. When you muddy it up with dirt, you can not claim these titles. It shows in this poll:
On personal attributes, Obama's turned a scant 6-point deficit on honesty and trustworthiness into an 11-point advantage, while the two remain essentially even when it comes to who's the stronger leader.
When you run continuous ads that have been proven lies, but you keep repeating the lie, though you have been debunked in print and tv, your stature and trust takes a hit.
Sarah Palin is bleeding McCain also.
kos wrote earlier about Palin:
Those who argued giving Palin a pass when she was wildly popular were wrong. While she's rallied the base and solidified states like North Dakota and Alaska for Palin, she is now toxic to independents and Democrats.
It was the blogosphere that pushed the Palin stories and her policy, record. I know that the personal stuff was intertwined, but it was her policies and how she governs that opened many eyes. The ABC Charlie Gibson interview did not help her either. She came off as a "talking point" and one who was not engaged in the issues. Many after seeing her, combined with the continuous questions about Palin's history and Troopergate walked away with a different opinion of her, one of too extreme and many comparing her to Dick Cheney. Not good.
The economy has most Americans worried along with the direction of this country headed in the wrong direction. You can thank Bush/Cheney for that.
Concerns about the economy have spiked since the global financial crisis roiled the stock market and sparked a proposed government bailout.
Fifty-three percent of registered voters in this new ABC News/Washington Post poll call the economy the single most important issue in the election, up 12 points in two weeks to an extraordinary level of agreement.
You can read the internals and the rest of the story, here.
There was a lot of handwringing about Obama not being tough enough and the repeated false ads rolled out daily by McCain. This fear should be quashed. McCain Campaign gambled and went negative early, rather than later. Anything forthcoming from this campaign will be viewed with skepticism and looked upon as "saying anything to get elected." As long as the economy is the number one concern of the American public, it will be hard to make this campaign a "Politics of Personalities."
Finally, the McCain Campaign decided to run against the press, called them out, restrict access to ask questions of McCain/Palin. In the long run, the press has gotten angry and finally decided to do their job. You can not continue to have the media run ads, proven untrue and then the finger pointed at you not performing your job. Running against an industry that can make or break you is/was incredibly stupid. Expect some shake ups and more media access if more polls are reflecting this one.
Home Page
Share
