CBS Poll: Obama Widens Lead Over McCain

CBS News Survey Shows Obama Opening Up Nine-Point Edge On Strength Of Debate Performance And Handling Of Financial Crisis

(CBS)  Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama leads GOP rival John McCain 49 percent to 40 percent among registered voters in a new CBS News poll. The nine-point spread marks an increase of four percentage points in Obama's lead from a CBS News/New York Times survey taken last week. Obama also leads by nine points among likely voters, 50 percent to 41 percent.

About 1 in 4 voters remains uncommitted to either candidate - they are either undecided or favor one candidate but say they could change their mind.

While no single factor can account for Obama's increased lead, both the financial crisis and the first presidential debate may have benefited the Democratic presidential nominee.

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Read The Complete Poll

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Neither candidate wins majority approval for their role in handling the financial crisis. But forty-four percent of registered voters approve of Obama's handling of the financial crisis, nine points higher than McCain. Forty-six percent of those surveyed, meanwhile, disapprove of McCain's handling of the crisis, compared to 32 percent for Obama.

Obama also continues to lead in voter confidence in handling the economy. Half of the registered voters surveyed say they are not at all or not too confident in McCain's ability to steer the economy, 11 percentage points more than say the same of Obama. Just 15 percent are "very confident" in McCain's ability when it comes to the economy, 11 points fewer than say the same of his rival.
The Democratic nominee was also widely seen as having won the debate. Forty-one percent of registered voters, including more than half of those who watched it, said Obama came out on top; just 21 percent said McCain was the winner.

Most voters said the debate did not change their opinion of the candidates, but Obama fared better amongst those who did. Twenty-eight percent of those surveyed said their opinion of Obama changed for the better, more than twice the percentage who said the same of McCain. While 17 percent said their opinion of McCain got worse, meanwhile, just 6 percent said as much of his rival.

Obama’s voters continue to be more enthusiastic than McCain’s voters about their candidate, and their enthusiasm has increased in the last week. Sixty-one percent of Obama voters are enthusiastic about the Illinois senator, up eight points from last week, while 36 percent of McCain backers are enthusiastic about their candidate.

Obama's favorable rating has risen five points from last week, to 48 percent, while his unfavorable rating is 32 percent. McCain's favorable rating is 39 percent and his unfavorable rating is 42 percent, an increase of 7 points from last week.

McCain’s support appears softer than Obama’s. Twenty-one percent of McCain voters say it is too soon to say for sure who they will vote for, compared to 14 percent of Obama voters.

Opinions of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin are now evenly divided, with her unfavorable rating (33 percent) now slightly higher than her favorable rating (32 percent). Last week, Palin had an eight point net positive rating. Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden's favorable rating stands at 34 percent and his unfavorable rating at 19 percent.

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Read what the polls mean come Election Day

Read a CBS News poll on the economic crisis

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Women's perception of Palin has become increasingly negative. On Sept. 8th, Palin had a 47 percent favorable rating among women and a 19 percent unfavorable; now her favorable rating among the group is down to 30 percent, while her unfavorable has risen to 34 percent.

The debate has not changed voters' perceptions of the candidates' qualities. McCain continues to have a slight edge on how registered voters expect the candidates to handle Iraq and is far more likely to be seen as an effective potential Commander-In-Chief.

In addition to the economy, Obama has a clear advantage on empathy, with 67 percent saying Obama understands their needs and problems compared to 46 percent for McCain.

More than half now say Obama is prepared to be president, up from 46 percent last week, while a larger percentage, 60 percent, say McCain is prepared for the job.

While nearly 3 in 4 registered voters say Obama cares more about protecting ordinary people, more than 1 in 2 say McCain cares more about protecting large corporations.

Obama is leading among women, moderates and voters under age 45. He now has the support of nearly two in three voters who supported Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, a slight increase from last week.

McCain continues to lead among white voters, including white men. White Catholics and white evangelicals also support McCain, as do conservatives.

Obama has a five point lead among Independents in this poll. Last week, this group narrowly backed McCain.
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This poll was conducted among a random sample of 1,257 adults nationwide, including 1,113 registered voters, interviewed by telephone September 27-30, 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 could be plus or minus three percentage points, and plus or minus three points for the sample of registered voters. The error for subgroups is higher.

[adepaor]

jaxsterling, How about a conservative member of the Bush administration who will vouch for him? Read the article in the New York Times for some real perspective not the sewer journalism you seem addicted to.

"Mr. Obama%u2019s friends said that history was utterly irrelevant to judging the candidate, because Mr. Ayers was never a significant influence on him. Even some conservatives who know Mr. Obama said that if he was drawn to Ayers-style radicalism, he hid it well."

%u201CI saw no evidence of a radical streak, either overt or covert, when we were together at Harvard Law School,%u201D said Bradford A. Berenson, who worked on the Harvard Law Review with Mr. Obama and who served as associate White House counsel under President Bush." Mr. Berenson, who is backing Mr. McCain, described his fellow student as %u201Ca pragmatic liberal%u201D whose moderation frustrated others at the law review whose views were much farther to the left.

Do you ever talk about the issues; you know, the war,the economic situation, foreign policy, domestic policy, energy policy, all those pesky little things that the Bush administration made a total mess of? How dumb would we be to elect another Bush Republican?????

[adepaor]

kimmyjo4, Since you have such a high opinion of Fox news, I know you do not suspect them of doing anything to make Palin look bad. this is an answer Palin gave to a question posed by Sean Hannity.

"Well, there is a danger in allowing some obsessive partisanship to get into the issue that we''re talking about today. And that''s something that John McCain, too, his track record, proving that he can work both sides of the aisle, he can surpass the partisanship that must be surpassed to deal with an issue like this."

What was the question? Who cares? The answer is gibberish. Obviously, Palin manages to make herself look bad. She doesn''t need the so called "liberal press."

[adepaor]

There hasn''t been a breath of real scandal surrounding the Obamas, not a breath. There has only been the usual Republican tactic of creating scandal out of smoke and mirrors if there is no real scandal available. This is how we got Bush for 8 horrible years. Republicans love to create guilt by association, guilt by inuendo, guilt by lies and distortion. In the meantime, the party of family values embraces as their candidate an elderly, serial adulterer, who threw his first family under the bus and married a megamillions beer heiress who provided him with 7 homes and the money to start his political career. I can think of a few not so nice names that would have been applied to a woman who did the same. The heiress is a drug addict who stole drugs from her own charity and only admitted her addiction when she was about to be outed by a reporter. To top it off, the candidate, a legacy student like George Bush, finished at the bottom of his class. Can you imagine the glee Republicans would feel if it were Obama who was the adulterer and Michele who was the drug addict thief. And all those evangelical preachers would be positively drooling at the thought of a pregnant Obama daughter. Instead Republicans ignore these things in favor of creating scandal where there is none.

[kimmyjo4]

I''M THANKFUL FOR FOX NEWS, IF NOT FOR THEM VOTERS WOULDN''T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA. HIS BUDDY RAINES MADE $90 MILLION DOLLARS OFF OF FANNIE MAE & POOR OLD FREDDIE MAC.HIS PREACHER IS A RAVING RACIST LUNATIC, HIS GOOD BUDDY AYERS THAT HE SITS ON THE BOARD AND WROTE THE ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION WITH BLEW UP BUILDING IN AMERICA AND WISHES HE COULD HAVE BLEW UP MORE. HAVE TOU HEARD THAT REPEATED ON MAIN STREET MEDIA? HANNITY HAS ASKED AND BEGGED OBAMA TO COME ON HIS SHOW, HAVE YOU SEEN HIM THERE? HE ASKED MANY, MANY OBAMA SUPPORTER TO COME ON HIS SHOW BUT I GUESS THEY ARE AFRAID TO ANSWER SOME OF THE QUESTIONS HE WANTS ANSWERS TO.

HOW CAN YOU ANSWER QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR CORRUPT POLITICAL FRIENDS AND BUDDIES. THAT IS WHY OBAMA WON''T GO ON HANNITY & COLMES.AHAHAHAH I''VE GOT A BRACELET TOO OBAMA DOESN''T WANT TO BE ASKED THOSE QUESTIONS.

[norcalruss]

Top ten nicknames for GOP (Grumpy Old Party) ticket


10. Bush Light and
Dan-Quayle-in-dress

9. Beauty and
the Beast

8. McBush and
His McMuffin

7. Snow White and
Grumpy

6. Dumbo and
Bimbo

5. Igloo and
7 houses more-or-less

4. B00bs and
Wrinkles

3. ****** and
Airhead

2. Geritol and
Mooseburger

1. Numb Nuts and
Furburger

[dicktracy200]

It%u2019s a sad, sad day in journalism when journalist use their networks for platforms to advance what would seem like their indorsement of a particular party%u2019s campaign. Fox News Network has continually and consistantly supported Senator McCain%u2019s campaign through unbalanced interviews. Guest on the network (more particularly Hannity and Colmes) that are pro McCain are interviewed in abundance not the case with Obama supporters, if you are going to report on a political subject as important as this there needs to be balance. Also the many, many crafty comments that try to employ negativity aimed at the Obama campaign border on the line of being crasp and unsavory. I have yet to observe fairness in journalism by the Fox News Network and at this stage of the game don%u2019t anticipate any. Therefore, I am asking viewers of a continued boycott of this network%u2019s inability to provide viewers with fair and unbiased reporting and if you tire of this type of journalism I ask that you join and get on board also, that we may end this type of reporting by Fox News. PLEASE PASS ALONG.

[adepaor]

Republicans keep ignoring the fact that even with the drilling there will be no change in gas prices for years, and no significant change in gas prices at all. Oil companies already have drilling contracts whiich they are doing nothing with. Why ruin beautiful pristine areas when it really won''t do any good. conservation and alternative sources are much better choices.

[kimmyjo4]

WHO IN THE WORLD IS GOING TO BE ABLE TO GO TO FLORIDA OR CALIFORNIA FOR VACTION IF THEY CAN''T AFFORD THE GAS & OTHER EXPENSES? CHINA CAN DRILL THERE IN FLORIDA AND NOT HURT THE ''ATTRACTIONS'' BUT THE USA CAN''T. GET REAL! EVERYBODY ELSE CAN DO ANYTHING HERE BUT AMERICANS.AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE GOING TO BE THE DOWNFALL OF AMERICA.PELOSI DOESN''T WANT DRILLING BECAUSE SHE HAS THE TREE HUGGERS IN HER POCKET.IF IT''S OK FOR OTHER COUNTRIES TO DRILL WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO. ACTUALLY WE COULD BLAME PELOSI,REID,FRANK,RAINES AND A WHOLE LOT OF OTHER DEMS FOR A LOT OF THE US PROBLEMS

[adepaor]

There will be real trouble if McBush is elected. He is a Bush republican and will continue Bush policies. Palin can call him a maverick until doomsday but the fact is he voted with incurious George more than 90% of the time. Even worse, McBush is elderly and obviously not well. that means if anything happens to him we get Palin. 8 years of stupid is enough; no more Bush republicans please.

[rhind]

In last night''s debate it was unsettling to hear Gov. Palin repeatedly pronounce nuclear, "nu-c-u-l-a-r" when referring to nuclear power plants and weapons.

Even more unnerving is Sen. McCain''s plan to build 45 more nuclear power plants. Proving that more nuclear plants will be safe, affordable and provide reliable electricity faster than clean renewable energy is harder than selling a new "bridge to no where."

Moreover, stopping the proliferation of nuclear weapons and keeping them out of the hands of terrorists requires a renewed respect for U.S. global leadership that instills confidence not comedy skits.

[bigjj29]

Let''s hope that McCain Maverick and Pitbull Palin can win this one or We are in for a lot more trouble. Go to PitbullPalin.org and "Show your Vote".

[kayefluent]

mdwoman - are you serious? Katie Couric was tough? If Palin can''t handle Couric, she certainly can''t handle world leaders. Give me a break and give the nation a break. No one cared when people were tough on Hillary and I''m sure you don''t care about the hateful slurs being thrown at Obama. Wake up and smell the oil burning; the US needs and deserves a thoughtful and articulate president who won''t shy away in the face of his advesaries. Notice that Obama went on Faux News; the worst GOP propaganda machine. Where''s Sarah...?

[bigjj29]

Lets hope that McCain Maverick and Pitbull Palin can win this one or we are in for a lot more trouble. Go to PitbullPalin.org and "Show your Vote".

[oknfl]

She said the Taliban (or Talabani in Palinese) were working with us in Iraq.

[pamelarainsong]

Palin is Oil.

Drill Baby Drill? More like Spill Oil Spill... Yep! keep puttin'' those platforms in the Gulf to be shut down by hurricanes. Smart Move! Woo Hoo! Gas Shortages Yey! High Gas prices Yey! More control for Big Oil Yey! Tar balls on Florida Beaches Yey! Drive the tourists out Yey! Sarah Palin was chosen because Conservatives this McCain is too liberal... even though he voted for Bush policies.

Conservatives chose her because she wants to drill. Period.

Intelligent Florida women say No to McCain/Palin

--Pamela Rainsong

[pamelarainsong]

If she''s a pitbull she can handle it.

Women shouldn''t run for office if they need to be treated with kit gloves. Sarah Palin can''t run with the big dogs, if she''s going to whine like a puppy.

We need more of Sarah Palin unscripted... which is the true Sarah Palin. What are you people afraid of?

[pamelarainsong]

Katie! Please Interview Sarah Palin (unscripted) about her horrific wolf record: Aerial Gunning of Wolves.

What moral fiber!

[element51]

mdwoman....Oh come on now. I watched all of the Couric interview and not once did Couric come off as biased or hateful. In fact, I thought that she was gentle with her questions and they dammed sure were not hardball questions. You can read anything you want into it but your claims are totally off base. Palin gave a good accounting of herself last night even though she did dodge every question that had any substance answering with something entirely unrelated. She did show that she can speak, (if you consider her trailer trash speach patterns actual speach) before a large audience. This woman is clearly not quallified to perform on the world stage and I really wonder how she managed to become govenor of Alaska. One thing that did come through loud and clear last night is that McCain and Palin believe that change can only occour through the point of a gun. If you like war then they are the obvious choice.

[element51]

I am 64 years old and have voted in every election since I was old enough to vote. While every presidential election is important, this one is by far the most critical one ever. The future of this country is in the balance and as Americans our destiny is on the line. One of these guys is going to win. While I support Obama and hope that he is elected, it is entirely possible that I won''t get my way. If that happens I will stand by McCain and give him all of my support because it is absolutely imperative that he gets the job done. You see, the fact is that it doesn''t matter if you are a dem or a repub. What does matter is our country. I get on here and take shots at the republican posters but I know in my heart that if I met most of them on the street I would smile at them and feel no hatred. Why? Because we are both Americans. We are sailing in the same ship and if the ship goes down we both go down with it. So my republican friends, we do not agree on our politics but, aside from that, we are not really that much different. So after the election let''s put our differences aside and try to do what needs to be done for the sake of our great country. It is important to remember that old saying, "United we stand, Divided we fall." We cannot let our country down!

[foxluv]

Why is the press so dedicated to just the 2 candidates??? I am a registered democrat and in no way would I vote for Obama the communist. I have picked Robert Barr, Jr. who is much better suited to the position and he won''t cause this country to go to the bottom as the other two surely will.