Poll: Republican McCain Would Beat Democrats Obama Or Clinton
February 27th, 2008 by JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief
A new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll shows why Republican John McCain has long been perceived as the Democrats’ biggest nightmare in their dream of recapturing the White House: it shows he’d beat both Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton if today were Election Day:
As he emerges from a sometimes-bitter primary campaign, presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain poses a stiff challenge to either of his potential Democratic opponents in the general election, a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found.
The findings underscore the difficulties ahead for Democrats as they hope to retake the White House during a time of war, with voters giving McCain far higher marks when it comes to experience, fighting terrorism and dealing with the situation in Iraq.
Also: one factor that has become quite evident in some other polls, and if you talk to people (and get lots of emails like we do). There is often an overlap between the people who want Obama and people who want McCain. McCain is the first Republican in many years who can go beyond just appealing to the GOP’s base.
Yet, Obama and McCain don’t agree on many issues. You can see this interesting quirk at work in the poll, on the issue of the war and McCain support:
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have made ending America’s involvement in the war a centerpiece of their campaigns. Even though a clear majority of those polled said the war was not worth waging, about half of registered voters said McCain - a Vietnam veteran who has supported the Bush administration’s military strategy - was better able to deal with Iraq.
In head-to-head contests, the poll found, McCain leads Clinton by 6 percentage points (46 percent to 40 percent) and Obama by 2 (44 percent to 42 percent). Neither lead is commanding given that the survey of 1,246 registered voters, conducted from Thursday to Monday, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
The Arizona senator is viewed favorably by 61 percent of all registered voters, including a plurality of Democrats.
So he is also the first Republican in years who appeals to Democrats as well — and not because of their intense antipathy towards any Democratic candidate.
Meanwhile, it’s often said that McCain is most vulnerable on domestic issues. But the new poll doesn’t say that at all:
Although McCain has joked about his lack of expertise on economic issues, voters picked him over Obama, 42 percent to 34 percent, as being best able to handle the economy. However, Clinton led McCain on that issue, 43 percent to 34 percent.
The poll also has more bad news for Senator Clinton in her battle with Obama for the Democratic party presidential nomination:
In the Democratic race, the survey showed, Obama’s support has increased across all of the party’s key constituencies.
The Illinois senator now leads Clinton, 48 percent to 42 percent, among Democratic primary voters nationally - a far cry from his double-digit deficits throughout 2007 and the first weeks of 2008.
What does it mean?
It means that if Obama gets the nomination this will be the first campaign of its kind in many years — where you have two candidates that appeal to independent voters and two candidates that polls show have a cross over appeal that goes beyond the more typical support candidates get from fierce partisans.
But it also means that the Democrats need to rethink the campaign because just being the “anti-Bush” and “anti-GOP” won’t be enough with McCain heading the GOP ticket.
Cartoon by Eric Allie, Caglecartoons.com
This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 27th, 2008 at 12:21 pm and is filed under Elections, John McCain, Approval Ratings, Independents, Newsweek Blogitics, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Polls, 2008 Elections, Independent Voters, Democrats, Republicans, Politics. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
