« The Daily Five: Giuliani Loses His National Finance Chair | Main | Surprise Party »

Latest CNN/OPC National Numbers

11 Jan 2008 05:39 pm

cnn111.JPG

:: Comments (8) ::

Share This

Comments (8)

It looks like the Democratic party is set to deliver the only matchup they have a good chance of losing - Clinton vs. McCain. What in the world are they thinking?

Posted by John M. | January 11, 2008 5:47 PM

This poll exclaims: Everything old is new again.

God, I hope not.

Posted by no more clintons | January 11, 2008 5:54 PM

It looks like the Democratic party is set to deliver the only matchup they have a good chance of losing - Clinton vs. McCain. What in the world are they thinking?

Every Republican operative I've spoken to is chomping at the bit to run against Obama, for what it's worth. Some of the arguments I've heard:

1) the very green Illinois senator matches up badly against McCain or Giuliani on foreign affairs
2) attacking Hillary will be more problematic than attacking Obama, because females account for a larger % of the electorate than blacks
3) much of the attack fodder on Hillary will appear stale to voters (ie., she's very well vetted)
4) her economic policy bona fides and her association with the Clinton boom years position her perfectly for a general election in a recession year
5) her refusal to be pigeonholed by her party's left on matters of defense and foreign affairs will enable her to play the sensible centrist
6) Obama's race, in the end, will prove problematic for a certain percentage of culturally conservative white swing voters

Posted by Inside the beltway | January 11, 2008 7:00 PM

More informative for Republicans than Democrats. I wonder who Democrats will think is more electable if after Florida it looks likely that McCain will get the nomination. The polls would suggest Obama would be a better matchup according to the polls but that doesn't mean Democrats will think the same.

Posted by Ben | January 11, 2008 7:07 PM

Inside the Beltway - interesting. How many republican operatives have you talked to? It would seem from all of the conservative blogs I drop by - NRO, townhall, etc., that they're more concerned about Obama than Clinton. They haven't developed a real narrative against him and certainly if Clinton had anything she would have used it by now. Do you think they're uninformed or perhaps lying about their opinions? In response to your specific points:

1. I think any democrat is going to look good against a republican on foreign affairs, particularly one who did not vote for the war and did not support the Iran resolution.
2. Attacking either should be problematic; I think Clinton will be easier to attack as most independents already dislike her.
3. The fodder may be more stale, but there's a lot more of it... and are we sure there's nothing new the Republicans are sitting on?
4. A good point... Obama needs to talk about the economy, stat!
5. Again, I'm not sure these votes look good to independents anymore.
6. To heck with the south. Obama will show he can win the upper midwest (see: Iowa) and west. I like his odds in say Ohio a lot more than I like Clinton's.

As of right now picking Clinton over Obama drops you 5 points in the polls. Yes, polls are meaningless and fluid... but this effect is consistent in every head-to-head.

Posted by John M. | January 11, 2008 7:16 PM

Having just read "The Worst Hard Times" (about those who stayed in the "dust bowl" and in the middle of watching John Ford's cinema version of "The Grapes of Wrath" makes me sick that my democratic party (or is it my party?) is losing the opportunity of a generation by not making John Edwards our candidate. No one, NO ONE else actually mentions poor people or is promoting such consistently progressive policies. And this is the one candidate whose life story makes him best equipped to win big. Goddammit people, what are you thinking!

Posted by steinbeckdem | January 11, 2008 10:10 PM

Another interesting poll released today has McCain up big in Florida -- a sure sign that he has started to march towards the nomination.

Posted by Daniel | January 11, 2008 11:58 PM

Matchup polls that show McCain doing well reflect the common perception that he is some sort of "moderate" and reasonably healthy and alert.

However, he needs to tack right to get the GOP nomination, and will be hard to get back to pretending to be a centrist.

That photo of him hugging Bush won't help him any in the GE, either. In the age of YouTube, McCain has lots of exploitable baggage - bomb bomb bomb Iran etc.

Posted by Horselover Fat | January 12, 2008 12:12 AM