Poll: Voters souring on McCain, Obama stays steady

[AlCzervik]

By ALAN FRAM and TREVOR TOMPSON
Associated Press Writers
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 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.

"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 rescue package. "We need a president who can deal with multiple tasks. It seemed like it overwhelmed him."
He scares me

[yellowcanine]

1. "We need a president who can deal with multiple tasks. It seemed like it overwhelmed him."

Heh. She gets it.

[dkf]

2. The more people see McCain the less they like him..

Since September, McCain has lost ground on nearly every quality tested in the poll, including lower scores for being likable, decisive, honest, competent, intelligent and inspiring.

[AlCzervik]

3. The abortion thing really hurt him, i got 2 calls yesterday specifically about that

one from my Step Mom and the other from my sil.