AP-Yahoo Poll: Obama overtaking Clinton despite bruises

[babylonsister]

AP-Yahoo Poll: Obama overtaking Clinton despite bruises

By CHARLES BABINGTON and TREVOR TOMPSON


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are both sustaining dents and dings from their lengthy presidential fight. The former first lady is clearly suffering more as Democratic voters no longer see her as the party's strongest contender for the White House.

Voters of all types have gotten a better sense of Obama, who was an obscure Illinois legislator just four years ago. As more people moved from the "I don't know him" category in an AP-Yahoo News poll, more rated Obama as inexperienced, unethical and dishonest. And 15 percent erroneously think he's a Muslim, thanks in part to disinformation widely spread on the Internet.

But Obama's positive ratings have climbed as well, while Clinton - widely known since the early 1990s - has been less able to change people's views of her. And when those views have shifted, it has hurt her more than helped.

The New York senator's ratings for being honest, likable, ethical and refreshing have fallen since January, and Obama scores higher than she does in all those categories.

In a dramatic reversal, the AP-Yahoo News poll found that a clear majority of Democratic voters now say Obama has the better chance of defeating Republican Sen. John McCain in November.

In late January, before Obama scored 11 straight primary and caucus victories, 56 percent of Democrats saw Clinton as the stronger nominee, compared with 33 percent for Obama. Now, Obama leads on that question, 56 percent to 43 percent.

more...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AP_YAHOO_POLL_OBAMA_GAINS?SITE=CONGRA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[saltpoint]

1. The nomination contest is greatly changed from just a short while back,

and Sen. Obama is surging into history.

Senator Clinton has lost the nomination.


:hi:

[babylonsister]

2. From your lips....

:hi:

[Scurrilous]

3. Good news.

K & R :thumbsup:

[mikekohr]

4. After Iowa, Senator Clinton Was A "Dead Man Walking."

Senator Clinton has ran a poor campaign. She relied on a poor strategy based on big states and inevitability. She did not have a plan "B." She has not resonated with the American People. The longer the campaign has run, the higher her negatives climb among all demographics, including Democrats.

While her personal attributes of tenacity, toughness, and intelligence have kept her in the race, her inability to connect on the intangibles, and the flawed management of her campaign have kept her in second place in this race, from day one.

In spite of the shortcomings of her campaign, she may have well won the nomination, given her unprecedented institutional advantages. But the Clinton machine ran into a movement, a movement whose time has come, a movement that will not be denied.

Insurgencies can be derailed if the person at the head of the wave is weak, over matched, and unready. Senator Obama is strong, up to the challenge, and ready on day one.

mike kohr

[saltpoint]

7. Yes. Her campaign just never worked well. It was fueled by her

political celebrity and not grassroots identification.

Too many snow shovels and not enough ideas.

[Cosmocat]

9. The other thing ...

Had it not been for Obama, Hill likely would have had the nomination wrapped up ...

I have always said, the reason the right hates her and Bill so much is that they play the R's game and beat them at it ...

Had there not a candidate who has RELENTLESSLY appealed to the higher ground in a matchup with her, who would have gone into the mud with her, she would win, cause she does have that kind of mentality to push someones face into the mud and drown them ...

But, after 20 years of this type of politics, and after the presidency of George W Bush an unmitigated and undeniable disaster, people are more so now than they have been in a LONG time open to a more reasoned and gentlemanly campaign ... Look at the R side, the biggest fire breather, Rudy, got bumped early, and the last two standing, Huck and McCain, were probably the most civil ...

Fact is, before she was actually challenged, Hill was running a fairly positive campaign ... But, once Obama started to close on her, she went with what she knew - disembling, spinning, lying ... The 51% campaigning using division ... Pretty much every time she and Bill have gone that route, it helps in the moment a bit, cause the MSM gets all frothy in the mouth, the the lingering residue has consistently rebounded against her and to Obama ...

[mikekohr]

14. Excellent analysis!

You've hit the ball over the fence with this post.

mike kohr

[ORDem]

15. Beat them? He was impeached, practically paralyzed by their witch hunts, gave into

many of their programs, lost the Congress to them. It was really a disaster for the Clintons overall.

:dem:

[last1standing]

17. No. It was disaster for the Democratic party. It was great for the Clintons.

I can even give you 109,000,000 reasons why.

[0007]

5. hilzary mo jo is gone. Went south. Vanished. Disappeared. It is zip. Nada. Nothing.

Ya just can't fool all of the people all of the time and give up NOTHING. George Stephanooulos and Charles Gibson found that out by whoring for ABC.

[powergirl]

6. Her "strategy" is turning off voters

It shows voters switching from Clinton to Obama - not the other way around. This quote from the article confirms this:

"Beulah Barton of Leesburg, Fla., said she initially backed Clinton, partly because she liked Bill Clinton's record as president.

"But the more I hear her talk, and the more I hear him talk, the more put off I am," said Barton, 69. "I think she's brash, I think she's rude. I get the feeling that she feels she deserves to be president" and doesn't need "to earn it."

[babylonsister]

8. That quote is good; I'm reading many people feel the same way.

Clinton seems to be burning her bridges with her personality.

[PA Democrat]

10. Clinton's TV commercials running here in southwestern PA are 100% negative.

I have seen at least a dozen commercials since Monday afternoon, every single one was an attack ad.

[meow mix]

11. K&R

[Adelante]

12. Tracking the same group

By tracking the same group throughout the campaign, the AP-Yahoo News poll can gauge how individual views change. It suggests that Clinton has paid a price for hammering Obama since early February on several issues as she tries to overcome his lead in delegates and the popular vote. Among those Democrats who no longer consider her the more electable of the two, most now see her as less likable, decisive, strong, honest, experienced and ethical than they did in January.

Meanwhile, those same voters are more likely to see Obama as strong, honest and refreshing than before.

-snip

Obama would be the first black president, and the survey detected some evidence of racial discomfort in voters' minds. It found that about 8 percent of whites would be uncomfortable voting for a black for president. It produced an estimate of about 13 percent of Republicans who would feel that way, but suggested very few if any Democrats would now be uncomfortable. In November, about 5 percent of Democrats indicated discomfort at voting for a black person for president.

[catgirl]

13. K & R

[K Gardner]

16. K&R