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HIllary Moves to Within 3 on Daily Tracking Poll
Looks like Obama has been hurt by the debate.
PRINCETON, NJ -- Gallup Poll Daily trackingI expect that the effect will be temporary. Pennsylvanians complained
shows a tightening of the national Democratic race, with Barack Obama
now holding just a 3-percentage point advantage over Hillary Clinton,
47% to 44%. These results are based on interviewing conducted April 15-17, with
Thursday night's interviewing the first conducted following the April
16 debate in Philadelphia.
that the debate didn't speak to their needs. Nationally, this was the
first time most voters heard of Ayers. It is likely it will take some
time for them to process the information. Obama is still not well
known, and each revalation of this type are likely to lead to significant
bounces in the polls.
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Comments (3)
Obama need to learn how to counteract the kitchen sink. I suspect that the numbers will go back, but in the short run, he is getting hurt by swing voters who are to easily swayed by the latest smear. Over time as he voters get to know him better, that familiarity will act as a buffer against wild swings caused by Republican, Clinton, and McCain smear tactics.
April 18, 2008 1:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
It may be that the debate hurt him (temporarily), but of more significance and timeliness is his gains in the PA primary polls, where he now trails Clinton by only 3 or 4 points (Rassmussen: Clinton 47% Obama 44%; Zogby: Clinton 47% Obama 43%). I'm not certain of the dates, but I presume that at least some of the polling includes the post-debate period.
What happened to Clinton's 20 point lead? If she wins by only a small sliver, will she finally drop out? We Democrats really need to be aiming at McCain at this point, not at each other.
Just as an aside, I heard a clip of one of the moderator's questions on Wednesday night, and he actually prefaced the question to Obama with a statement that went something like: "the advisors of the Clinton and McCain campaigns wonder if you're ready..." I may have that not exactly right, but I was floored when I realized that the moderator was actually asking a question of Obama based on what the advisors of the competing campaigns were asking him to ask. Unbelievable. No wonder Obama didn't do as well as we all know he can - who could have possibly anticipated that the supposedly neutral moderators would gang up on him with the advisors of the other campaigns!
April 18, 2008 3:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama is trying not to antagonize Clinton supporters. He wants them for the general election. He will have no such strategy with committed McCain supporters.
He'll go negative in a factual sort of way, and he'll be flinging far more attacks than will McCain. After all, McCain has thirty more years of gotchas, thirty more years of flip-flopping.
April 18, 2008 3:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
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