Poll: Obama Opens 14-Point Lead On McCain
Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is entering the third and final presidential debate Wednesday with a wide lead over Republican rival John McCain nationally, a new CBS News/New York Times poll shows.
The Obama-Biden ticket now leads the McCain-Palin ticket 53 percent to 39 percent among likely voters, a 14-point margin. One week ago, prior to the Town Hall debate that uncommitted voters saw as a win for Obama, that margin was just three points.
Among independents who are likely voters - a group that has swung back and forth between McCain and Obama over the course of the campaign - the Democratic ticket now leads by 18 points. McCain led among independents last week.
McCain's campaign strategy may be hurting hurt him: Twenty-one percent of voters say their opinion of the Republican has changed for the worse in the last few weeks. The top two reasons cited for the change of heart are McCain's attacks on Obama and his choice of Sarah Palin as running mate.
McCain's favorable rating has fallen four points from last week, to 36 percent, and is now lower than his 41 percent unfavorable rating. Obama, by contrast, is now viewed favorably by half of registered voters and unfavorably by just 32 percent.
Obama holds a considerable edge over his rival on having the right "personality and temperament" to be president, with 69 percent saying Obama does and 53 percent saying McCain does. The Democratic nominee is also widely seen as more likely to make the right decision on the economy, far and away the top issue for voters, in a survey taken in the immediate aftermath of last week's historic Wall Street losses.
Opinions of the candidates could still change, and potential trouble spots remain for Obama, among them the fact that small percentages of voters cite Obama's past associations with Bill Ayers (9 percent) and Reverend Jeremiah Wright (11 percent) as issues that bother them.
But with more than four out of five of each candidate's supporters now saying their minds are made up, the poll suggests that McCain faces serious challenges as he looks to close the gap on his Democratic rival in the final three weeks of the campaign.
Views Of The Candidates
Obama's lead over McCain when it comes to the economy has grown since last week, and a majority of registered voters now say they are not confident in McCain to make the right decisions on economic issues. Thirty-nine percent are not confident in Obama.
There is, however, an opening for the candidates in this area: Fewer than one quarter are presently very confident in either Obama or McCain to make the right decisions on the economic crisis.
On raising taxes - an area where a Republican nominee might be expected to have an edge - Obama also leads. Despite the McCain campaign's efforts to cast Obama as a tax-raiser, more registered voters say McCain is likely to raise their taxes (51 percent) than say Obama will raise their taxes (46 percent).
Voters are almost three times more likely to be very confident in Obama when it comes to health care (28 percent) than McCain (10 percent). A majority of voters, 54 percent, are not confident in McCain to handle health care, while 33 percent are not confident in Obama.
McCain continues to be hurt by his perceived ties to the unpopular Republican president, George W. Bush, whose approval rating is 24 percent. More than half of registered voters surveyed say they expect McCain to continue Mr. Bush's economic policies if he is elected.
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved. The Obama-Biden ticket now leads the McCain-Palin ticket 53 percent to 39 percent among likely voters, a 14-point margin. One week ago, prior to the Town Hall debate that uncommitted voters saw as a win for Obama, that margin was just three points.
Among independents who are likely voters - a group that has swung back and forth between McCain and Obama over the course of the campaign - the Democratic ticket now leads by 18 points. McCain led among independents last week.
McCain's campaign strategy may be hurting hurt him: Twenty-one percent of voters say their opinion of the Republican has changed for the worse in the last few weeks. The top two reasons cited for the change of heart are McCain's attacks on Obama and his choice of Sarah Palin as running mate.
Obama is widely seen as running the more positive campaign: Sixty-one percent of those surveyed say McCain is spending more time attacking his opponent than explaining what he would do as president. Just 27 percent say the same of Obama.
Read The Complete CBS News/NY Times Poll On The Presidential Race
McCain's favorable rating has fallen four points from last week, to 36 percent, and is now lower than his 41 percent unfavorable rating. Obama, by contrast, is now viewed favorably by half of registered voters and unfavorably by just 32 percent.
Obama holds a considerable edge over his rival on having the right "personality and temperament" to be president, with 69 percent saying Obama does and 53 percent saying McCain does. The Democratic nominee is also widely seen as more likely to make the right decision on the economy, far and away the top issue for voters, in a survey taken in the immediate aftermath of last week's historic Wall Street losses.
Opinions of the candidates could still change, and potential trouble spots remain for Obama, among them the fact that small percentages of voters cite Obama's past associations with Bill Ayers (9 percent) and Reverend Jeremiah Wright (11 percent) as issues that bother them.
But with more than four out of five of each candidate's supporters now saying their minds are made up, the poll suggests that McCain faces serious challenges as he looks to close the gap on his Democratic rival in the final three weeks of the campaign.
Views Of The Candidates
Obama's lead over McCain when it comes to the economy has grown since last week, and a majority of registered voters now say they are not confident in McCain to make the right decisions on economic issues. Thirty-nine percent are not confident in Obama.
There is, however, an opening for the candidates in this area: Fewer than one quarter are presently very confident in either Obama or McCain to make the right decisions on the economic crisis.
On raising taxes - an area where a Republican nominee might be expected to have an edge - Obama also leads. Despite the McCain campaign's efforts to cast Obama as a tax-raiser, more registered voters say McCain is likely to raise their taxes (51 percent) than say Obama will raise their taxes (46 percent).
Voters are almost three times more likely to be very confident in Obama when it comes to health care (28 percent) than McCain (10 percent). A majority of voters, 54 percent, are not confident in McCain to handle health care, while 33 percent are not confident in Obama.
McCain continues to be hurt by his perceived ties to the unpopular Republican president, George W. Bush, whose approval rating is 24 percent. More than half of registered voters surveyed say they expect McCain to continue Mr. Bush's economic policies if he is elected.
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No wonder McCain is pandering to the Joe six pack. Ignorance really is bliss.
Posted by abro915 at 12:17 PM : Oct 16, 2008
That stuff - in fact, anything about the incomes and taxes paid by the top economic quintile - would be a lot easier to believe if it were not a documented fact that 66% of our corporations have gone 5 straight years without paying any taxes at all - and those wealthy elite who own and run those corporations have access to precisely the same set of tax lawyers and accountants.
Hiding income in the U.S. of A. is a mega-billion dollar industry.
Any quotatations about who is carrying the tax load are suspect, at best.
"The top-earning 25 percent of taxpayers -- those with an Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) over $62,068 -- earned 67.5 percent of nation''s income, but they paid more than 4 out of every 5 dollars collected by the federal income tax (86 percent).
The top 1 percent of taxpayers (AGI over $364,657) earned approximately 21.2 percent of the nation''s income (as defined by AGI), yet paid 39.4 percent of all federal income taxes.
That means the top 1 percent paid about the same amount of federal individual income taxes as the bottom 95 percent."
IF you make over $364,657, your paying for someone else''s benefits. If you make less, someone else is helping you. If you made less than less than $250K and got a $1200 refund check, you really lost $3600 in federal revenue benefits. For every refund dollar, 95% of the people got to split 33 cents, while 5% got to split 66 cents. A fifth grader would tell you that''s a lousy deal.
No wonder McCain is pandering to the Joe six pack. Ignorance really is bliss.
Will the Republicans gain the wisdom to understand that favoring the few at the expense of the many is counterproductive in the long run?
Will the Republicans learn that a reputation for honesty, once lost, is a terribly difficult thing to regain?
Will the Republicans learn that condoning lies, slurs, and smears in order to gain political advantage is the surest way to paint themselves as corrupt and untrustworthy?
I doubt it...look at what the RNC trolls continue to post here, day after day after day.
I am afraid that the Republicans as a Party have chosen to commit political suicide rather than let ethics, morality, and patriotism come between themselves and wealth accumulation.
She must really suck at the football office pool if she thinks hubby is the underdog.
Barrack could go on vacation from now to the election & he would still win.
The reason I started paying attention to Obama and decided that I did not want to vote or him was because of his wife. The first time that I heard her speak and spew her venom, I made my mind up then that whether Barack would be a great president or not it was his wife that would not be a great president''''s wife. She needs to keep it to herself. She is not on the ticket and is a bad representation for her husband. We don''''t need more pot stirers in the white house...we need someone that has the leadership ability to lead this nation and the experience, neither of which Obama has. Looking good and talking good is not all we need at this time. Obama, the underdog, I THINK NOT!!!