Poll: Pastor Controversy Hasn't Hurt Obama

Wall Street Journal:

The racially charged debate over Barack Obama's relationship with his longtime pastor hasn't much changed his close contest against Hillary Clinton, or hurt him against Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

Democratic pollster Peter Hart, who conducts the Journal/NBC polls with Republican pollster Bill McInturff, called the latest poll a "myth-buster" that showed the pastor controversy is "not the beginning of the end for the Obama campaign."

Read the whole story: Wall Street Journal

Comments

[earnesttruthseeker]

I believe this issue hasn't hurt Obama because most Americans sensed his authenticity in facing it, dealing with it - and opening a more honest discussion about race relations in America.

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/03/donuts-and-reverse-racism.php

Go OBAMA!

[mhopgood123]

I have friends in many states who haven't seen pastor Wright's videos and don't even want to see them. The truth is , a lot of people are voting on issues, and couldn't care less about all these media distractions that entertain more than inform. The myth is that many people care about Wright. The fact is, many more couldn't care less. They know Obama is not above flaws, but when compared to the other two candidates, he is much bewtter qualified to lead this nation.

[BrownIzz]

I am so tired of hearing the name Rev. Wright. There is obviously a lot of both good and bad with the man. President Clinton has had his picture taken with him along with having him as part of the Prayer Breakfast. He has also been endorsed by several other ministers and received several awards.
He also has said a lot or maybe a few very offensive things.
I am not defending him. Some of the things that he said were wrong and unpatriotic. I was never there, but I am sure he also said a lot of good things.
There were at least 8,000 other people who attended the church and overlooked some of the "not so nice' things that were said.
I just hope people do not judge Obama because he attended this church. and obviously saw some good in the man.
I don't beleive 100% in "guilt by association".
If that were the case there would be a lot of people who had no friends! "Judge let not ye be judged"...­.....I am not a bible thumper, but I do believe that is in the bible.

[mhopgood123]

The myth here is that the Rev Wright story is important. It isn't. I know tons of people voting for Obama and they couldn't care about Obama's pastor views. We live in a very diversified society and everyone is entitled to their opinion. Obama has rejected those views, and in my book, that is what counts.

[tumblewind]

I stopped listening to anything the right wing media had to say a good 15 to 20 years ago. They have to put the rabid rights spin on it every time. So I learned to think for myself and not depend on the media to make up my mind on a candidate. I will vote for what ever candidate the Democrats put out there. Because I refuse to vote Republican. I haven't in 20 years now and I won't start now.

[ChrisS13]

It hasn't affected me either. I wasn't voting for him before and I'm still not voting for him.

[dasimms]

I have been introduced to Rev. Wright via TV One for the past 18 months. I love to listen to his sermons, I come away full of hope and determination to be the best person I can be.
The good news is that people are not as stupid as the mainstream media thinks. Why would people with any common sense hold Sen. Obama accountable for words spoken by his pastor.? Why would anyone able to hear and receive the truth be offended by Rev. Wright's words? He spoke only the truth.
Negative energy will never prevail against positive energy! Thanks be to God!

[ChrisS13]

The Truth???? You mean like America invented aids to kill black people? That's truth to you? Then you reap what you sow. As far as why hold Obama accountable, he stated Rev. wright was his spiritual advisor and his mentor. He went as far to say that he bounces ideas off of this man. He has also donated over 20 thousand dollars to this man. SO if you dont think judgement is an important quality for a man who has little experience then you are more interested in American Idol, then you are the American Presidency.

[SuppersReady]

The only one responsible for what is uttered by a pastor or anyone is the person who is doing the uttering. Rev. Wright will be the excuse for not voting for Obama for people who had no intention in voting for him in the first place. So if you want to play this game I want all the pastors, mentors, former teachers and employers of every candidate to come out and answer questions. Let's judge everyone the same way. I don't even know what religion Hillary or McCain belong to. Let's get the cameras in those churches so we can make a judgement. Full disclosure­..........­This is what you want, right? The only reason you know about contributions is through tax records. Where is Hillary's tax record? What is good for the goose is good for the gander....­the way this is going neither Hillary or Obama will win. Why don't we just burn the constitution. Better yet why bother voting. We will just get a panel to make a selection for the parties based on pastors words.

[Wildcatdiva]

Prove that's not true.

[nkgilb]

Hey listen chrisS13:::

Obama is on the ballot and not ReV. Wright.

I listen to what comes out of OBama not his pastor and l advice you to do the same as well.

And besides enough of this Wright issue, we have more important stuff facing us here in America not some stupid thing that a presidential candidate pastor said or did.

Obama will bring an end to the Iraq war and capture Osama Bin Laden. l am voting for Barack Obama on that alone and because l trust him

[b2008]

If you do a little more investigating, maybe you'll even find the truth. That is NOT a lie.

[vsign]

Can't we have some common sense?

The Republicans are going to use Rev Wright against Obama. And other radical associations.

Let's find out how Obama responds to what the voters want to know. Hillary speaks for alot of democratic voters. It would be best not to dismiss these questions. We want to know why he stayed in that church with Rev Wright as his mentor? What does he agree with - what doesn't he agree with - be honest so we can have this conversation.

Now is better than 6 months from now and be slaughtered in the General.

Saddle up and let's have this argument. Let's be American about it.

[vallon]

It won't matter, unfortunately. If the Rev Wright didn't exist, the Republican party would've done what they do best. No, not start a war. This is a party whose opposition research offices gave us these greatest hits: the Clintons killed Vince Foster, John McCain cracked under pressure and sold us out to the North Vietnamese, John Kerry wasn't a war hero--he lied in his reports in order to receive medals and shorten his tour in Vietnam...­.there are so many more...
Who the Democratic nominee will be is not the most important issue. It's how that nominee will answer the Swift Boat 2008 attacks. I hope that answer, from either Sen. Clinton or Sen. Obama, is: NOT THIS TIME.

[AggravationKills]

TRUER WORDS HAVE NEVER BEEN SPOKEN!

While we fight about the drivel HuffPo gets us all worked up about...Re­publicans are in a back room somwhere twisting their moustaches hatching real evil plans to steal the election again.

Come Together. Quit Fighting. Vote Democratic, No Matter Who the Nominee is!

Peace. No More War in 09.

[EvoMan]

And, the Republicans are going to have tons of fun with Senator Clinton's stories about her heroic escapade in Bosnia. Wanna bet that'll be worse. In one case, they'll be trying to go after our candidate for something someone else said. In the other, they'll be going after her for repeatedly lying.

[SuppersReady]

Argument about what? The issues or peoples personal lives and religion. Hillary would like to talk about Rev. Wright all day.......­..I would like to know what her views are on religion, marriage and alike.....­Oh but that is none of our business. Where are her F'N tax returns? I would like to know? It is a valid question. Saw Hillary on Fox today.....­her new friends...

[vincealy]

New video on Clinton Bosnia trip may reverse this . SNL writers shoud view some funny political satire. http://www.buzzfeed.com/buzz/Hillary_Clintons_Bosnia_Trip

[GOP4MoreTears]

So the swiftboating did not work then, good for the American people, we just may take our contry back after all.

[sockman]

No on swiftboated Obama. As Rev. Wright would say, "Obama's chickens came home to roost".

[authoritarianbootlicker]

Switch on to FOX News and I bet they're playing the Rev. Wright loop RIGHT NOW!

Greta Van Sustern has featured this story a record 15 days straight. FOX keeps pushing this over and over and over...

[Grunty1]

But Fox viewership would never vote for Obama anyways, nor Clinton (in the General, just the primary so she can lose).

[ChrisS13]

swiftboating hasn't even started yet, wait until the general. Then the Obamanites will be in a for a rude awaking. This shakeup in the party is fine with me. My party has gone so far to the left that it's laying on it's side. Most Americans are in the middle, not far left. And I'm getting sick of being lumped in with bleeding heard liberals simply because I'm a Democrat. It's no wonder why Obama has much of the support of the online community, most don't have anything better to do but sip on a latte and blog all day. They talk a big game yet they don't do anything. I do enjoy watching the hypocrisy of those who cry NEO CON all day though, mean while they just got done shopping at Walmart and Target, stopped for coffee at Starbucks and on there way to Outback for dinner. We need a revolution of this party period. The majority of us want a moderate progressive, while the ranting activists and bloggers hearsts are bleeding..­......... Bull shit. Many of you make me sick

[KDH]

"A number of readers, questioning the results of the poll, have written in flagging this passage in NBC's Chuck Todd's analysis of the poll ..."

"In addition, we OVERSAMPLED African-Americans in order to get a more reliable cross-tab on many of the questions we asked in this poll regarding Sen. Barack Obama's speech on race and overall response to last week's Rev. Jeremiah Wright dustup."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/185845.php

[GnitenGoodLk]

Yup. That slapped the poll accuracy down for me too. Most of the polls have been struggling to keep up/slanting samples, so I haven't relied on them too much. We'll know when the votes get counted in the upcoming states.

[foreffectivegovernment]

NBC/WSJ Poll, March 26, 2008

The poll was conducted Monday and Tuesday this week and surveyed 700 registered voters, which gives the poll a margin of error of +/- 3.7 percent, (25.8 voters).

31 percent, (217 voters), did not see the speech or had no opinion. 69 percent, (483), may have. Some had no opinion.

Interestingly, of those voters who said they saw the speech, 47 percent, (227 voters), said Obama sufficiently addressed the Wright issue while 37 percent,( 179 voters), said he needs to address it further. Among whites, 45 percent, (217 voters), were satisfied with Obama's explanation, 38 percent, (183 voters), were not. Among blacks, 67 percent, (324 voters), said the speech was sufficient, while 25 percent, (121 voters), want him to address it further.
For those of us who had Statistics 101 in college a long time ago, here are the raw numbers from the survey. Seems to me the margin of error should be higher when applied to a population.

[flashlight]

Do you people know what "oversampling" means?

They do it to get a better statistic for a certain demographic. But that statistic is not factored into the final number at a higher percentage than the the demographic represents in the population.

[GnitenGoodLk]

Considering the specific issue put out there, the drop of white voter support, the logical oversampling should have been for white voters to get a more accurate statistical view to squash the issue. They did the opposite. Also, nowhere did they state they did not factor in the oversampling with a ratio-proportional formula to arrive at their conclusions. Personally, I don't think a high percentage of white voters defected across the board, but can't prove that by this poll.

[Seaofdreams]

What you are associated as Obama was a 20 year relationship in the Trinity church close friends with Jeremiah Wright speaks volumes. It speaks volumes on character as well as judgement for him to put himself in the midst of this racism these anti american statements made by Wright.If this was Hillary's pastor people would demand her to step down for this. No speech or lame excuse would be accepted like it was for Obama.Thou­gh the white voters as you'll see in the states ahead it has left a lasting impact on.One that won't go away as the majority of the American people know when their being lied to. The media needs to put away their pom poms the cheering section we hear for Obama and go back to reporting the news instead of trying to control this election.W­hat the news hasn't told you just take a look. http://www.obamatruth.org/
I'm sure when this does come out Fox will be the first on the story.

[GnitenGoodLk]

ROFLMAO

You know..I visited your site, and one of the pages needs to be corrected.­..the top page reads "NY Times" but the bottom on the copyright reads "Chicago Tribune" indicating a completely crappy 527 job phony news source...

You guys slapped this together too quick to even make it look realistic.­..
lol Really, go back there and fix it....Here­'s the link to the page...I was laughing too much to read any further, so spot check the rest..

http://www.obamatruth.org/Nuclear%20Leaks%20and%20Response%20Tested%20Obama%20in%20Senate.htm

[BlackWidowPilot]

Fake News as a credible source of informations? ROFLMAO!!!

Speaking of dubious credibility and guilt by long-standing and close association, how about your boy Sean Hannity and his *neo-Nazi* pal?

Fake News and the likes of Bill O'Liar and Sean "Sieg Hiel!" Hannity as a credible news source, yeah, right. Believe that and I've some beach front property in Utah that's just the thing for one such as you; cut you a great deal right now!

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[GnitenGoodLk]

Of course it didn't hurt him..he GAINED delegates out of it......an­d it gained him international support as well. I don't think there is a leader out there who won't bend over backwards to get Obama's policies enacted post haste just based on his asking for it...he represents the best of us and they love him....duh­....

The problem is his soft stance appearance to caving to Muslim nations who see him as a respite from the pressure..­.a respite they don't deserve and are counting on to feel empowered again.... unless he addresses this on a large scale, what he intends to do if they don't open up completely to the US, abandon nuclear attainment, and end all violence against us and our allies, how will he handle that?

Now that's the million dollar question..­.can't answer that if you're in the Virgin Islands...­.and it's a question he needed to answer a long time ago.

[Egghead]

Reality check.

Yeah, I have strong feelings about all this stuff. But reality check, I just refinanced, inflation's hitting, there's a Hooverville 20 minutes drive away from me, I'll probably wind up upside down on my house and the housing market is crashing where I am--

and I am one of the LUCKY ones! I have a fairly secure job with good health insurance and no kids to send to college. I think a lot of people saw this, worried about it for a few minutes, and went back to struggling to pay their bills. It's simply not a big deal.

[Ariesjill]

.

Rev Write speaks....­often irrationally, for far too many African-Americans ...not simply of his generation, anguished & frustrated to the point of of lack of clarity/objectivity at the net results of centuries of discrimina­tion.. And make no mistake, politically correct liberals, often disgusing bigtory may be the most pernicious element within the perpetrators.

Obama's response to what was inevitable---the exploitation of the Wright affiliatio, with the insane premise that Sen Obama either shares these belifs or is some kind of SPONGE ---his speech response. was possibly the most accurate account of what has been crying out for real deal discussion for far too long. Moreover, it illustrated his integrity, brilliance, clarity and COURAGE (opposite of political strategies­)....AND, in the bargain, honored us as intelligent members of the electorate in ways I then realized , I at least, have been starved for all my life.

This is why I felt, whatever the initial response from from terror-ridden haters and diabolical spinner/op­portunists­.....Real Deal trumps everything over time.

The new polls reflect this and I am sooooo heartened!

[flashlight]

Hear hear!

[dedacherry]

Attempting to blame Obama for something his pastor said was truly an act of desperation .
Obama's opponents behave like delinquents and it appeared to me like some in the media having no other thread to pull were attempting to bring in the 'race card' thinking this would bring Obama down.
It was not the reverends statements that disgusted me , it was the reaction that I find to be so absolutely despicable beyond understanding. I am ashamed of these people.

[ME08]

POLL LIES...you are all in never never land.

[Kim445588]

Yeah, they do lie, but what is good about this is all the thinkers out there who participated in this, will shape the opinion of the others who go where the wind blows. In other words, this is now the new storyline (that it's no big deal) and MSM will frame it this way over and over shaping the new opinion.

The media has f@# up this campaign like never before. I'm sure they will turn on both candidates several more times before this over.

[Bushgirlsgonewild]

.

As predicted: the worst is over for Obama and the worst is yet to come for McCain.

Be afraid republicans, there's a new coherent sheriff in town.

Soon Bush can retire to the monkey cages at the Crawford zoo. I'd hate to own property around there after he moves back for good.