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The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press is an independent opinion research group that studies attitudes toward the press, politics and public policy issues. The center's purpose is to serve as a forum for ideas on the media and public policy through public opinion research. It is one of six projects that make up the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan institution that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world.
After losing considerable ground over the summer, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is holding a solid lead over Republican John McCain, according to a new poll by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. It's the first time Obama has held a substantial lead in the Pew poll since June.
What may be even more significant in terms of overall voter sentiment is how Obama's image as a leader has improved. McCain's lead as the candidate who would use good judgment in a crisis dwindled from 51%-36% for McCain in early August to 45%-42% in late September. But there is some good news for McCain buried in those numbers. The changes "reflect gains for Obama among his political base rather than among independent voters," Pew says. "The share of Democrats who say Obama has the better judgment in a crisis jumped from 63% in August to 81% currently. But he continues to trail McCain among independents on this quality by a wide margin (32% Obama, 49% McCain.)"
Pew says there appear to be three key factors behind Obama's surge:
• More voters rate his performance in the first presidential debate as excellent or good than say the same about McCain's (72% vs. 59%).
• "The electorate continues to have much more confidence in Obama than McCain to deal with the financial crisis, which is dominating the public's attention at levels usually associated with wars and natural disasters." Obama also doubled his advantage over McCain as the candidate best able to handle the economy -- from nine points in mid-September to 18 points currently (51% to 33%).
• Attitudes about McCain's running- mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, have turned sharply from positive a month ago to negative with "a majority of the public, 51%, now saying that the Alaska governor is not qualified to become president if necessary." Shortly after the Republican convention, 52% said Palin was qualified to step in as president.
POSTED BY: Tommy78 (October 04, 2008 08:19 PM)
Because of the social conditioning, people will say in the public, "who" he/she will vote for this coming november presidential election; but then, the "who" he/she will really vote for, in the privacy of the voting booth, may or may not be the same "who" he/she had said will vote for in the public.
POSTED BY: Sandy (October 06, 2008 08:09 PM)
Isn't it interesting......and sad. Our forefathers went to war and died, they lost money in the market had to start over, and they didn't have anyone bail them out.
We kill children in our wombs and yet want others to be tolerant of our sin.
Marriage is under assault, and yet we are more concerned about the economy, "stupid". We don't know the difference between good and evil, and yet we call those who are good "evil" and vice-versa.
Phil Graham was right - we have become a nation of whiners. We've never had it so good, and yet all we do is whine about how bad we've got it. Truly, our nation deserves the judgment of Almighty God!
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