Monday, May 05, 2008

re: The CBS Poll   [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

An e-mail:  

The poll you cite is an interesting one. Many of the responses in this poll (conducted May 1-3) were similar to the last one (taken April 25-29). So the huge jump in the Obama lead really stands out. In the current poll, Obama leads McCain by 11 points (Clinton bests McCain by 12). But just a couple days ago, Obama and McCain were tied; Clinton led by five.

During that same period, the President’s approval rating stayed steady, the amount of people paying “a lot” of attention (55 percent) to the’08 campaign was unchanged, and McCain’s fav/unfav number among all respondents changed by only a point.

What changed? Well, for one, Sen. McCain’s favorable rating among Republican primary voters dropped six points (now at 59 percent), back were is was in late February, but still 20 points higher than it was in late 2007. There was also a seven-point drop among those who believe the economy was “fairly good” and a seven-point upswing among respondents who believe the economy is “very bad.” The “very bad” jumped 13 points in a month. Also, the fav/unfav numbers for both Obama and Clinton rose over the past week.

This poll is constantly moving, even over short time periods. But it’s not good news.

05/05 06:11 AMShare