Barack Obama's Problem With White Female Voters

Are Democratic leaders getting just what they deserve? Quite frankly, should they have been able to predict this wave of GOP support when they nominated an inexperienced, far-left candidate for president on the Democratic ticket?

Today's Washington Post/ABC News poll shows:

Republican presidential candidate John McCain has gained huge support among white women since naming Sarah Palin as his running mate and now leads Democrat Barack Obama among those voters, according to a survey published on Tuesday.

The Washington Post/ABC News poll found that much of McCain's surge in the polls since the Republican National Convention is attributable to the shift in support among white women.

The race for the White House is now a virtual tie, with Obama at 47 percent support of registered voters and McCain at 46 percent, the poll found. Before the Democratic National Convention in late August, Obama held an 8 percentage point lead among white women voters, 50 percent to 42 percent, but after the Republican convention in early September, McCain was ahead by 12 points among white women, 53 percent to 41 percent, the poll found.

Asked about the new numbers, an Obama spokesperson said the ABC poll is wrong. Easily said, difficult to prove--especially since other polls are showing, more importantly, that Senator Obama's huge advantage in the electoral college vote is like Joshua's walls, comin' a tumblin' down. From Rasmussen:

The latest numbers from the Rasmussen Reports Balance of Power Calculator show Obama leading in states with 193 Electoral College votes and McCain ahead in states with 183 Electoral College votes. Previously, Obama had enjoyed a 210-165 advantage.

A 10 electoral vote advantage is hardly worth bragging rights this close to an election that the Democrats should have won in a walk. It is of course too early to say who will win. We have the debates in front of us. And a Democratic campaign denizen friend of mine keeps telling me the polls are way off because pollsters don't poll cellphones and the majority of young Americans are no longer reachable via residential land lines. Obama, of course, wins big among younger Americans. But whether they will turn out in appreciably larger percentages than in past elections remains to be seen. No matter which side you're on, your nails should be chewed down to the quick by now.

By Bonnie Erbe