ID :
13790
Fri, 07/25/2008 - 15:02
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/13790
The shortlink copeid
Obama maintains slim lead over McCain in latest survey
New York, July 25 (PTI) - Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama continues to hold a slender lead overhis Republican rival John McCain, a just-released poll shows.
The poll conducted for the Wall Street Journal/N.B.C.
News found that 47 percent of respondents favour Obama against 41 percent for McCain. The lead is same that theAfrican-American Senator enjoyed a month ago.
The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentagepoints.
Asked whether they could identify with the background and values of the two candidates, 58 percent said they could identify with McCain on that account, while 47 percent said the same about Obama. More than four in 10 said the Democratic contender does not have values and background they canidentify with.
Those findings suggest voters' views of Obama are more fluid than his relatively steady lead indicates, the pollsterssaid.
"Obama is going to be the point person in this election," says pollster Peter Hart, a Democrat who conducts the Wall Street Journal/N.B.C. News poll along with Republican Neil Newhouse. "Voters want to answer a simple question: Is Barack Obama safe?" If the answer is yes, then Obama, who is aspiring to be the first black President of America, stands to benefit further from a favourable environment for Democrats. If no, McCain is seen by a wide swath of Americans as a safe,well-qualified potential commander-in-chief.
The poll was taken Friday through Monday, before much of the extensive press coverage of Obama's trip this week to theMiddle East and Europe, meant to build his credibility.
Announcing the results of the poll, the Journal says midway through the election year, the presidential campaign looks less like a race between two candidates than areferendum on one of them -- Barack Obama.
The survey's most striking finding: Half of all voters say they are focused on what kind of president Obama would be as they decide how they will vote, while only a quarter saythey are focused on what kind of president McCain would be.
The campaign's unusual dynamic, says the Journal, appears to be the result of an anxious nation now sizing up an unconventional candidate who presents himself as the agent forchange, which voters say they want.
The contest thus parallels in some ways the 1980 race, when voters seemed ready for a change away from Jimmy Carter and the Democrats, but weren't persuaded until late in the race that they could be comfortable with a former actor andunabashed conservative, Ronald Reagan, as commander-in-chief.
But Obama is in the odd position of having unusually passionate backing from his supporters -- his voters are three times as likely to say they are excited about their choice as are McCain's, A higher share of voters say they want a Democrat in general to sit in the White House than say thatthey want Obama specifically.
That reading suggests there is potential for the Obamalead to grow -- but his lead could prove to be tenuous.
"This is not Obama's race to lose. It's his to win," says Newhouse, the Republican pollster. "Voters have a sense they know what they're going to get if they elect John McCain, but an uncertainty about Barack Obama that they are trying to sort through." PTI DS AMT
The poll conducted for the Wall Street Journal/N.B.C.
News found that 47 percent of respondents favour Obama against 41 percent for McCain. The lead is same that theAfrican-American Senator enjoyed a month ago.
The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentagepoints.
Asked whether they could identify with the background and values of the two candidates, 58 percent said they could identify with McCain on that account, while 47 percent said the same about Obama. More than four in 10 said the Democratic contender does not have values and background they canidentify with.
Those findings suggest voters' views of Obama are more fluid than his relatively steady lead indicates, the pollsterssaid.
"Obama is going to be the point person in this election," says pollster Peter Hart, a Democrat who conducts the Wall Street Journal/N.B.C. News poll along with Republican Neil Newhouse. "Voters want to answer a simple question: Is Barack Obama safe?" If the answer is yes, then Obama, who is aspiring to be the first black President of America, stands to benefit further from a favourable environment for Democrats. If no, McCain is seen by a wide swath of Americans as a safe,well-qualified potential commander-in-chief.
The poll was taken Friday through Monday, before much of the extensive press coverage of Obama's trip this week to theMiddle East and Europe, meant to build his credibility.
Announcing the results of the poll, the Journal says midway through the election year, the presidential campaign looks less like a race between two candidates than areferendum on one of them -- Barack Obama.
The survey's most striking finding: Half of all voters say they are focused on what kind of president Obama would be as they decide how they will vote, while only a quarter saythey are focused on what kind of president McCain would be.
The campaign's unusual dynamic, says the Journal, appears to be the result of an anxious nation now sizing up an unconventional candidate who presents himself as the agent forchange, which voters say they want.
The contest thus parallels in some ways the 1980 race, when voters seemed ready for a change away from Jimmy Carter and the Democrats, but weren't persuaded until late in the race that they could be comfortable with a former actor andunabashed conservative, Ronald Reagan, as commander-in-chief.
But Obama is in the odd position of having unusually passionate backing from his supporters -- his voters are three times as likely to say they are excited about their choice as are McCain's, A higher share of voters say they want a Democrat in general to sit in the White House than say thatthey want Obama specifically.
That reading suggests there is potential for the Obamalead to grow -- but his lead could prove to be tenuous.
"This is not Obama's race to lose. It's his to win," says Newhouse, the Republican pollster. "Voters have a sense they know what they're going to get if they elect John McCain, but an uncertainty about Barack Obama that they are trying to sort through." PTI DS AMT
