The latest national tracking poll - released today, President's Day - shows John McCain beating Hillary Clinton, 49%-42%. The Rasmussen Reports poll also shows Barack Obama beating McCain 46% to 43%.
Clinton has slipped over the last week - on Feb. 11, Rasmussen had McCain ahead of Clinton 45%-43%, which was within the margin of error.
The new poll also found Obama with the highest "favorable" ratings among likely voters. Obama is viewed favorably by 54%; McCain by 51%, and Clinton by only 45%.
The biggest effect of poll numbers like these is probably on the Democrats' superdelegates. Elected officials and members of the party establishment, they tend to be cautious and careful, eager to avoid alienating likely winners, and focused more on winning elections than on policy or personality differences between the candidates. "The Democrats created superdelegates after the 1980 campaign to help ensure their nominee was mainstream and electable," CBS news explained on Saturday. "Electability" provides a firm basis for superdelgates to choose Obama -- if poll results like this hold up.
Of course polls measure voter sentiment today. The purpose of campaigns is to win more voters by November, and some campaigns succeed. Clinton's still could.
Rasmussen also reported that, on President's Day, both Lincoln and Washington have higher favorability ratings than any current candidate: Lincoln is viewed favorably by 84% of American adults, Washington by 79%.
The Rassmussen daily tracking poll is conducted with nightly telephone surveys and averaged over the previous four days. The sample consists of 1,600 likely voters, and the margin of error is 3 percentage points.
Latest Poll: McCain Beats Clinton, Obama Beats McCain
So why the &%*# are both these headlines on this site? Hypocrisy? It undermines the credibility of this site.
Excuse me. Excuse me, everyone! It has come to my attention that about half of you people present are in the wrong place. This is where we vote to nominate a Democratic candidate for President of the United States. This is NOT where you vote for your favorite American Idol contestant! Now, you know who you are, people. You are the young, starry-eyed idealists, the confidently intelligent, sophisticated paragon seekers, the hopeless dreamers, and the mindless followers of anything trendy. So, if you want to vote for a candidate who is qualified because of their policies and experience, you are welcome to stay. But if you are looking for someone who is awesome, sexy, cute, a hottie or a JFK lookalike, gather up your cell phones, People magazines and bottles of water and get the hell out of here and let the rest of us, who still have an ounce of brains left, decide on a nominee who actually may be able to clean up the mess that was made by a candidate voted most popular by people like you Thank you.
Right, right, right. Not sure what world you're living in, but it isn't the same world occupied by the sane...
The republicans have made a science out of elections, they've done something that the democrats aren't capable of, they've examined the facts.The dem's, they run on hope.In 2000,reepublicans literally stole, as in coup d'etat, the presidency.Then they watched how the dem's and their followers reacted. They found that they didn't. Dems pissed and moaned but in the end a republican was the president.No doubt, this gave them confidence in "04" and self confidence goes a long way but there's also a lot to be said for luck, or, whatever it was that made Kerry stop campaigning and climbing into a hole a week before elections.That presents,for me,a query which will remain until my last breath.My thoughts are that it took a lot of money but then I'm one of those "nuts" who believe that certain sectors of our govt. had a strong hand in killing JFK. How silly of me! But still, a moron remains as president (just ask anyone, even the morons who actually voted for him)and here we are,2008 and who,rather than the logical choice,the one man who would beat any republican; John Edwards, is in the run-off in the primaries? A Black and a Woman! What the fuck?
Does it really matter which one wins? How can I say this without coming off racist or chauvinist? I guess I can't so I'll just say what I think, as always.
This is still America.Land of the free, home of the racists and chauvinists. And the republicans know this. Why?Because they pay attention, not like the naive dems, hoping for an historic win, no matter who.Republicans know that there are sectors of our population who havn't answered any polls or made any public appearances but will walk through fire rather than see a Black (they don't call him that) or a Woman(they don't call her that either)as President of their United States and they will come out and vote when the time comes, for ANYTHING other than an "N" or a "W"! Get my drift? "Oh, no" you say, this is the 21st century. We're not like that anymore. Well, maybe you're not, but there are a hell of a lot of people who are and they don't hide it. You just don't happen to know them or live around them but there are many "small towns" and "groups" who still have a 1950s mindset and even gather themselves as (now hold your heart) KKK or Nazi's. Yup. And you know what else? That next door neighbor who always says things like "It's nice to see that a colored can finally get to be President in this country"? He ain't votin for no "colored" or no "bitch", excuse my vernacularism.
I do agree with the overall premise, though. I've lived in some of those communities and know how they think. Even if Obama has won all those "red" states in primaries/caucuses, come November they'll vote pretty much the way they have always voted. All you have to do is take a look at previous elections where Dems. won "red states" in their primaries/caucuses and then got slaughtered by those same "red states" in the general.
And in the battleground states (OH, FL, PA), guess what? A Quinnipiac poll done over the weekend shows John McCain beating *BOTH* Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, by about the same margins. Independents' votes make not one whit of difference -- BHO & HRC get between 34-36 percent; white men? No difference. BHO & HRC get about the same support.
But, then, Obama's followers are too ignorant and/or too arrogant to understand or appreciate this "history".
Oh, I forget: They can't (or won't) read!
How can this country, or so many n this country, be so blind? I almost said stupid but that's not nice,, but,whitey,please! Can you people not see, or is everyone "afraid" to see? Does it frighten everyone so much that our contry is no longer the "progressive,God fearing, war winning hero of the world" that we just won't see it? Is it so frightening to believe that major corporations have taken over our government and will send our children off to war to kill innocents and die themselves for no other reason than money,,,MONEY, that you'll still vote for a murderer just because he says"God bless America"? Is everyone that scared? Well shit, if they are then why not change it? ANY WAY WE CAN. If we can't change it with our votes because they just don't mean anything anymore then we can find other means. There are always alternatives but only if we think. Problem is , we've become afraid to think.
Both Hillary and Obama should be handily ahead in any poll against ANY Republican but I guess this country wants more badly run/incompetent government. Amazing!
They will discredit Hillary by lambasting Bill.
Quite frankly do we need to go through another version of Ground Hog Day, replaying; “I did not have sex with that woman” over and over again?
Do we have to relive whether impeaching and disbaring Bill was wrong or not and whether investigating White Water was necessary?
I personally like Hillary but think it is really time for the country to move on, we need a fresh start, we have much more important issues to deal with than defending the Clinton scandals all over again.
Undoubtedly the republican hit machine will go after Obama with the same intensity as they did against Clinton, Gore and Kerry but at least it will not be the impossibly boring never ending talking points the republicans will throw at us about Clinton dishonoring the oval office.
Sick nation.
Obama's followers are selling the Democratic Party and real democracy down the river to make a point or points about Hillary Clinton. Way to go!! I should be proud of this? You want a Republican co-opted candidate as the Democratic nominee? That is what you're getting in Barack Obama. That you cannot see this is beyond me.
Anything better to say then regurgitated Hillary platitudes?
What kind of Supreme court judge do you think Obama or Hillary would appoint?
Will Obama appoint another nice black man like Clarence Thomas to the court. Last summer, this nice black man voted against equal pay for women in the Ledbetter case. Liberal judges voted to pay the woman an equal wage.
Why did Obama vote in favor of tax breaks for the oil companies last month--while Hillary voted against it?
Why do women earn 25 percent less than a man in the same job in America----because we allow it by being too blind to vote for ourselves by voting for Hillary----a woman who was fighting for the rights of abused children and women while Obama, by his own admission, was chasing women and snorting coke.
on