McCain Erases Hussein Lead
WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican Sen. John McCain has erased Sen. Barack Obama’s 10-point advantage in a head-to-head matchup, leaving him essentially tied with both Democratic candidates in an Associated Press-Ipsos national poll released Thursday.
The survey showed the extended Democratic primary campaign creating divisions among supporters of Obama and rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and suggests a tight race for the presidency in November no matter which Democrat becomes the nominee.
McCain is benefiting from a bounce since he clinched the GOP nomination a month ago. The four-term Arizona senator has moved up in matchups with each of the Democratic candidates, particularly Obama.
An AP-Ipsos poll taken in late February had Obama leading McCain 51-41 percent. The current survey, conducted April 7-9, had them at 45 percent each. McCain leads Obama among men, whites, Southerners, married women and independents.
Clinton led McCain, 48-43 percent, in February. The latest survey showed the New York senator with 48 percent support to McCain’s 45 percent. Factoring in the poll’s margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, Clinton and McCain are statistically tied.
The last month has been challenging for Obama. The Illinois senator suffered high-profile losses in Texas and Ohio that encouraged Clinton, who pushed on even harder against him. Obama’s campaign also suffered a blow with scrutiny of incendiary sermons delivered by his longtime pastor. The candidate responded by delivering perhaps the biggest speech of his campaign to call for racial understanding.
Obama is also facing almost daily critiques from Clinton and McCain, questioning whether the freshman lawmaker has the experience to be a wartime leader.
Despite all the conflict surrounding Obama, the Democratic contest is unchanged from February with Obama at 46 percent and Clinton at 43 percent. But the heated primary is creating divisions among the electorate—many Clinton and Obama supporters say they would rather vote for McCain if their chosen Democrat doesn’t win the nomination.
About a quarter of Obama supporters say they’ll vote for McCain if Clinton is the Democratic nominee. About a third of Clinton supporters say they would vote for McCain if it’s Obama.
Against McCain, Obama lost ground among women—from 57 percent in February to 47 percent in April. Obama dropped 12 points among women under 45, 14 points among suburban women and 15 points among married women.
He also lost nine points or more among voters under 35, high-income households, whites, Catholics, independents, Southerners, people living in the Northeast and those with a high school education or less.
Although the race between Clinton and Obama remained unchanged, there were a few shifts in whom voters are choosing:
—The gender gap has mostly disappeared, with Clinton losing her advantage among women. In February, 51 percent of Democratic women supported Clinton while 38 percent were for Obama. Now they’re statistically tied at 44 percent for Clinton, 42 percent for Obama. That is partially offset by a decline in male support for Obama, down 7 points to 50 percent, while Clinton gained 10 points among men. She is now at 42 percent.
—Obama and Clinton are now statistically about even among households earning under $50,000. In late February, Clinton led 54 percent to 37 percent, but now it is just 48 percent to 41 percent.
—Obama now leads Clinton among self-described moderate Democrats, 51 percent to 35 percent. Previously they were 45 percent Clinton, 40 percent Obama.
The poll questioned 1,005 adults nationally. Included were interviews with 489 Democratic voters and people leaning Democratic, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.4 points; and 369 Republicans or GOP-leaning voters, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 5.1 points.
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Associated Press Director of Surveys Trevor Tompson contributed to this report.
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I never believed BO had a 10 point lead in the first place…
April 10th, 2008 at 11:11 amI didn’t think so either. As more and more comes out on him, this could be the worst ass woopin ever.
P.S. BO is a good name for him.
April 10th, 2008 at 12:04 pmI’ll predict Obama bin Lyin is going to go down like McGovern when everyone gets a better look at him and result in a bunch of people leaving the Democratic party.
April 10th, 2008 at 12:13 pmMcCain simply comes in with substance, and REAL experience; BHO doesn’t. He also has a sense of humor:
“Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?” McCain said at a GOP fund-raiser in Washington. “Because Janet Reno is her father.”
Also heard he brawled with a former linebacker in the Halls of Congress. He’s a hard ass, if anything.
All of the above I learned from last night’s “Red Eye.”
April 10th, 2008 at 12:13 pmThis is all well and good, but I fear this country is in for around 8-20 years of retrograde pain, no matter who is elected. I think the 70’s are coming back economically, and there’s not too much we can do about it. Clinton was a better Pres. than Geo. Bush, if you take the Lewinsky stuff out of it, in terms of performance. The only good things Bush did were: tax cuts 2003, Alito and Roberts on SCT, veto of partial birth abortion and stem cell subsidy, AFghanistan/Taliban turnover. Everything else: increase Dept. of Educ., new entitlement Drug benefit, ethanol subsidies, increase size of govt, anti-2nd amendment from its Justice Dept., nonsupport of US dollar, inflation roaring ahead and world food prices skyrocketing (causing world upheaval), fuel prices skyrocketing (inflation), endless war in Iraq with the Iraqi government banking oil revenues and US taxpayers paying for their “reconstruction” is not good. The media has the US public convinced it needs broad based socialism, and its going to get it. Bush already started it with his policies. He’s a big government, expand imperial powers of Presidency kind of guy. We’d have to have a congress that was willing to put in permanent tax cuts immediately, get rid of the mentality that says you reward stupid decisions with government money (housing bailout, ethanol subsidy), stop the wheels from turning to where they are going now–cap and trade “global warming” taxes (which McCain is for). It ain’t going to happen. We will have to suffer the pain for at least several years–probably 8-20 years. Sort of like 1965-1986. The media has convinced the public that the “ideas” of the 60’s were good. And so they are picking up the mantle to implement them. They have to feel the pain to learn –again –that they were not good ideas.
April 10th, 2008 at 2:35 pm