Poll: Obama Retakes Lead Over McCain

CBS News/New York Times Poll Shows Obama With 5 Point Advantage, Voters Concern Over Palin

(CBS) 
Candidate Qualities:

While both Obama and McCain are now vying for the mantle of change agent in this election, Obama is seen by a far higher percentage of voters as likely to bring real change to Washington if elected President. Sixty-five percent of registered voters say Obama would bring real change, while just 37 percent say the same of McCain. Nearly 60 percent of voters say McCain would not bring change.

The differing views of the two candidates are driven largely by the differing views held by independent voters. (Democrats and Republicans overwhelmingly believe their party's candidate will bring change.) Sixty-one percent of independents say Obama would bring real change; 35 percent say the same of McCain.

Forty-seven percent of registered voters say Obama is a different type of Democrat; roughly the same percentage say he is typical. McCain, a self-proclaimed maverick, is seen as a different type of Republican by a smaller percentage, 40 percent. Fifty-seven percent of registered voters cast McCain as a typical Republican.

The two candidates retain the strengths and weaknesses each has held for some time: McCain is viewed as better prepared and a more effective commander in chief, while more voters relate to Obama and feel he understands them.

Voters' opinions of the candidates have changed little since last week, and both hold similar favorable/unfavorable ratings. (Obama's favorable stands at 45 percent and his unfavorable at 35 percent; McCain's favorable is 44 percent and his unfavorable 37 percent.)

Each candidate’s age seems to work for him rather than against him. Fifty-eight percent of registered voters say Obama's relative youth helps him have fresh ideas; 24 percent say it makes him too inexperienced. Fifty-four percent say McCain's age makes him experienced, while 31 percent say it makes the job too difficult.

The Economy, Iraq, And President Bush:

CBS News detailed the Americans' pessimism about the economy in a poll released hours ago; as was noted, only 22 percent of Americans say the condition of the national economy is even somewhat good, and six in 10 think the economy is getting worse, not better.

About a third of all Americans say they are worse off now than four years ago, and one in five say they are falling behind financially. Eight in ten Americans think America is on the wrong track. (Click here to read more on Americans' view of the economy and the issues most important to them in the presidential election.)

President George W. Bush's job approval rating remains low, with just 27 percent of Americans approving of the job Mr. Bush has done as president.

A record 68 percent disapprove of the president's performance, the highest disapproval rating of any president recorded since Gallup began asking the question in 1938. (The two closest contenders are Truman, who had a 67 percent disapproval rating in early 1952, and Nixon, who had a 66 percent disapproval rating in August 1974.)

As detailed in the earlier poll, voters are slightly more confident in Obama's ability to handle the economy than they are in McCain's. But they are also more likely to think their taxes will go up in an Obama administration. Nearly half say Obama will raise their taxes, while roughly one in three say the same of McCain.

Forty-two percent of Americans believe the 2001 Bush tax cuts should be made permanent, down five points from last month. Thirty-six percent now believe the cuts should be allowed to expire.

For the first time in over three years, a majority of Americans think things are going well in Iraq. Fifty-two percent now say the war there is going at least somewhat well - up seven points from last month the highest number since just after the Iraqi elections held in January 2005. (Still, 46 percent say the war is going badly.)

Fifty percent of Americans say the troop surge is working, up 20 points from a year ago.

Still, most Americans continue to think the U.S. should have stayed out of Iraq in the first place, and 53 percent now say the war in Iraq is not a part of the war on terrorism - more than ever before.

Nearly six in 10 Americans think the next president should try to end the war in Iraq within the next year or two, while about 4 in 10 think he should continue fighting in Iraq as long as he feels it is necessary.

Fifty-two percent of voters are at least somewhat confident that Obama can handle the situation in Iraq, while fifty-six percent are at least somewhat confident McCain can handle the situation. Voters are more likely to be very confident in McCain's ability: 36 percent say they are very confident that the Republican nominee can handle the situation, while 26 percent say the same of Obama.

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This poll was conducted among a random sample of 1133 adults nationwide, including 1004 registered voters, interviewed by telephone September 12-16, 2008. Phone numbers were dialed from RDD samples of both standard land-lines and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample and registered voters could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher.

[decomo]

Either man would be a good president. I am more concerned now with the recovery of the economy and how many of the big companies are going to make more layoff rounds. In the mean time, I am doing my share to help consumers who are unemployed or who don't have insurance to save at the pharmacies. Check out the consumer service site http://www.drugzoo.com where free drug coupons are available to everyone without having to do any registration whatsoever. Just get the drug coupon you need, print and the use it at your neighborhood pharmacy to reduce your drug costs.

[s416]

QUESTION POSED TO BOTH POTENTIAL VPs-DO YOU BELIEVE AS *** CHENEY DOES,THAT THE VP OFFICE IS NOT PART OF EITHER THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH,NOR THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT?Bidens answer-Of course not-thats ridiculous,the Vice Presidency has been part of thr executive branch of government for over 200 years,and its absurd that Cheney got all these lawyers,and acted like this history was wrong-Palin''s response was-NO COMMENT!!!!! Unfrickin believable

[allmymarbles]

I think as more and more time goes by, Palin will be seen as the political ploy that she is. She is ignorant, badly educated and has little experience. It is embarrassing that someone like that would be chosen to run for high office. Whether or not you liked Hillary Clinton, she had the qualifications. Palin was chosen to appeal to women. As such it is an insult.

[s416]

AMERICAN TROOPS OVERSEAS AND STATESIDE OVERWHELMINGLY SUPPORT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA -LEADING TO CLOSE POLLS IN VIRGINIA AND NORTH CAROLINA- VIETNAM VETERANS DECIDELY FOR BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA-RASCISTS LIKE GAY AMERICAN BIKER JERK AND KKK VOTE MCCAIN AND SPEW IGNORANCE AND HATRED FOR AMERICA

[dbaker13-2009]

with obama and pelosi and her cronies,i guess we wont have our own oil.lets see,higher payroll taxes and higher ss taxes.lets see what else we can come up with on these left wing loons!

[amrt5016]

Guess what, one of the grand Republican ideas of government is under siege. With crisis brought on by the continuing collapse of credit, investment and insurance companies, deregulation of markets and business practices is taking a big hit. Hopefully, we''ll all learn from this painful lesson, that government has a place after all to referee markets and reduce opportunities for fraud, that real wealth is being created instead of being moved around to benefit a few.

[amercanbiker]

Gayy bikers for McCain!

[blindhowlin]

You know, if we had listened to Bush/McSame and privatized social security, it would have lost 25% of it''s value over night! Any seniors out there who can stand a 25% reduction in you SSI?

[timkarsno]

I am not voting for someone so does not even uses his real name and hides it from the American people Barrack Obama "Hussien".

After what has happen to our country on 9/11 my country comes first. I am not against muslims but ... my country comes first and this guy is hiding his name from the American Public which is not right.

I do not know enough of Obama as I do with Mccain and even Mccain we all know was born in a American Naval Base.

I think we american''s have a right to see front page on every newspaper in America Barrack Obama''s Hussein Birth certificate and where he was born and where it was issued vetted by the CIA/FBI/NSA/ISD any security goverment body to verify it is legit and American.

Afterall we are the ones who are going to vote for the next president of this country and we should know all we can in depth of that person.

For as long as I don''t see the real facts in writing about this democrate we have to choose..... I''m switching sides to Mccain/Palin ''08 has my vote!

America security is one of the greatest things that the next commander in chief has on his rims and I am not about to vote for someone who says he is just a United States Citizen.

[whatithink1]

If the bailout works, we''ll have HYPERINFLATION.
If the bailout doesn''t work, we''ll have HYPERDEFLATION.

You''d better get ready, either option is not so good.

[whatithink1]

StormeyOne,

You have a blind hatred for Obama, which makes anyone else a good option for you. You''d vote for the Daffy Duck/Gomer Pyle ticket because you hate Obama, so your support for McCain/Palin doesn''t say very much.

[eroosevelt08]

Of course, we are not hearing that Palin has a stay at home husband now. That is a lot of support at home that makes it easier to achieve things outside the home.

[newbie43]

Funny how none of the McPalin bloggers are bragging about the poll numbers this week. Guess the people have figured out that Palin is nothing but a empty gimmick. And the gimmick is overshadowing the top of the ticket. When she spoke today about the ''Palin-McCain'' ticket, don''t believe for a second she mis-spoke.

[kansas1946]

What the American people should do, is go to the Democrats and say, ''''''''Oh, by the way, how are you going to pay for your plan? Why is it that you think your plan will actually provide better health care? Why is it that you think a government monopoly will provide less expensive health care?'''''''' All the evidence in the world suggests when you have an inefficient, ineffective, centralized bureaucracy with a lack of transparency, costs go up, not down, and quality goes down, not up.

:) Some really good questions!

Posted by StormeyOne at 12:16 AM : Sep 19, 2008

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Well, that would be great. Did anyone ask Bush and the Republican congress how they were going to pay for all of the trillions of dollars of spending that they did in the last eight years? No. Why not. Did anyone ask Bush and his cronies how he could take the country from the biggest surplus in American history to the biggesst deficit? No. Why not.
Republicans are not fiscally conservative and any of them that say they are are liars. They had the Whitehouse, the house and the senate for six years and all they did was spend money.

[kansas1946]

Here is a snippet of an article about McCain''s first wife Carol. She was in a terrible car accident when John was a POA. When he came home, she wasn''t quite as beautiful as when he left and had a number of medical issues. I think he is really short on moral fiber
************************************

But already the McCains%u2019 marriage had begun to fray. %u2018John started carousing and running around with women,%u2019 said Robert Timberg.


McCain has acknowledged that he had girlfriends during this time, without going into details. Some friends blame his dissatisfaction with Carol, but others give some credence to her theory of a mid-life crisis.

He was also fiercely ambitious, but it was clear he would never become an admiral like his illustrious father and grandfather and his thoughts were turning to politics.

In 1979 %u2013 while still married to Carol %u2013 he met Cindy at a cocktail party in Hawaii. Over the next six months he pursued her, flying around the country to see her. Then he began to push to end his marriage.

Carol and her children were devastated. %u2018It was a complete surprise,%u2019 says Nancy Reynolds, a former Reagan aide.

[kansas1946]

Obama%u2019s system relies on an unsound premise: namely that those without health insurance often cannot afford it. While this may be true to some degree, there is a large population of working adults who could technically afford insurance, but choose to gamble with their health, and ultimately with taxpayer dollars.




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Posted by StormeyOne at 11:47 PM : Sep 18, 2008
+ report abuse
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Well, number one, any plan is better than John McCains lack of any health care policy. And number two, I don''t think Obama based his plan on a "mistaken premise" that all those that didn''t have health care couldn''t afford it. Hillary has tried twice to push a health care plan that forces folks to be covered nationally and she lost both times.
Obama''s is a good plan. It leaves those of us alone that have good coverage, offers coverage to those who don''t have it. Just the threat of nationalized medicine in the last few years has caused changes in both the insurance industry and in the health care industry.

[sueann702]

Sure you are! Are you such an adolescent that you don''''t realize that the majority of Americans are conservatives. And you actually think they''''re going to elect this Marxist whack job shill and hand this country over to the socialists?

How do you think Bush got elected TWICE?


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Posted by StormeyOne at 11:24 PM : Sep 18, 2008

We need regulations, have you been watching the market lately? Was it ok to bail out AIG? Was that a bad idea? Tainted foods entering our country, toys with lead..we need tighter government control and now.

[sueann702]

They had the majorities in the house, senate, and white house, and they OSTRACIZED the democrats, almost COMPLETELY out of the process!!!


This is their egg - they laid it - and now it''''s hatching!!


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Posted by hungry1968-1 at 11:18 PM : Sep 18, 2008

Now we know 1 thing, the republicans had the show and let the American people down. We will win the senate, house and the white house and bring back common sense to this country once again.

[sueann702]

EXACTLY what problems have you got? You can''''t even answer a question! Do you have a JOB?

Do you even realize our GDP has risen 3.2%? Do you even have a clue?

Or are you just some crackhead adolescent that wants to whine and point your finger at the republicans and blame everything on them when the democraps are just as COMPLICIT!!!


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Posted by StormeyOne at 11:13 PM : Sep 18, 2008

I POSTED IT 3x ALREADY, WE ARE IN FOR ANOTHER TERRORIST ATTACK, UNEMPLOYMENT, RECESSION, INFLATION, TRANSFERRING OUR WEALTH TO BUILD IRAQ, MORE ENEMIES IN THE WORLD, DEAD SOLDIERS DUE TO A STUPID WAR TO UNGRATEFUL IRAQ, DEATH TO OUT CIVIL LIBERTIES, TAX BREAKS TO COMPANIES TO SHIP JOBS OVERSEAS TO CRIPPLE THE MIDDLE CLASS, AMNESTY TO ILLEGALS, CFTA....

AND NOW MCCAIN, WHO SAID THE ECONOMY IS NOT HIS STRENGTH BUT LOVE TO REMAIN IN IRAQ AND WOULD FOLLOW THE EXACT BUSH ECONOMIC/FOREIGN POLICY WANT US TO ELECT HIM???? ARE YOU STUPID????

[sueann702]

AND? You will spout this KRAP and then try to tell me to put Obama in our White House who has ZEROOOOOO, NADAAAAAAA, ZIPPPPPPPP, ZILCHHHHHH, NONEEEEEE experience to do this, nor has even a proven ability to get ONE THING done! NADAAAAAAAA, ZEROOOOOOO!


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Posted by StormeyOne at 11:07 PM : Sep 18, 2008

BUSH HAD EXPERICENCE AND LOOK WHAT IT GOT US! THE PROBLEM ISN''T EXPERIENCE, THE PROBLEM IS REPUBLICANS!!!