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Poll: In Tight Clinton Obama Campaign Bill Clinton Hurting Hillary

March 13th, 2008
By JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief

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A new poll brings good news for Republican presumptive Presidential nominee Senator John McCain, troubling news for the Democratic Party, slightly good news for Democratic Senator Barack Obama — and a sign that the best thing Hillary Clinton could do for her campaign now would to lock her husband Bill Clinton away in a room:

There’s a new poll out today from the Wall Street Journal/NBC News that shows support for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has remained tight nationally, with Obama edging ahead within the margin of error. There’s good news in the poll for Republicans — voters seem to like John McCain more than they like the Republican Party in general, suggesting a tighter race than the Democrats are hoping for.

Why? Some previous polls have shown that even if some Democrats and independents don’t agree with McCain, he appeals to them. Part of it his that he still apparently has some credibility in the bank as a “maverick,” a phrase many progressives think is inaccurate since McCain is promising continuity on many policies now followed by the Bush administration. Part is his life story. And the other part is that he comes across well on the tube.

But a more interesting nugget is buried deep in the poll. It seems that the more voters see of Bill Clinton, the less they like him. The poll shows a significant shift in his approval rating from a year ago. In March 2007, some 48% of those surveyed had a positive view of the former president, and 35% had a negative view. Now his negatives outpace his positives, 45% to 42%.

That means that in this highly-polarized political environment, the former President has started to turn off Obama supporters and independents (Republicans have been turned off by him for years).

Over the same time span, Hillary Clinton’s positive numbers rose from 39% to 45% while her negatives remained static, sliding up from 43% to 44%,

That’s progress on the positives.

As for Obama, the more voters saw of him — or, at least the more they learned about him — the more they liked him. In March 2007 his positive numbers were 37% and his negatives were 17%. But some 26% said they were “neutral” about him and 20% said they didn’t know — nearly half of those surveyed. Now, Obama’s positive-negative numbers are 51% to 28% with only 18% neutral and 3% undecided.

So he is coming across as highly likable to most voters — and, if past elections are any indication, the likability factor matters. In general elections. In a Democratic Presidential nomination, what matters is getting the delegates (apparently, no matter how you get them).



This entry was posted on Thursday, March 13th, 2008 at 9:38 am and is filed under Bill Clinton, Elections, Approval Ratings, Newsweek Blogitics, Primaries, John McCain, Barack Obama, 2008 Elections, Polls, Democrats, Hillary Clinton, Politics. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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