AFP: Worsening polls reveal Obama's pastor problem

[Maddy McCall]

Worsening polls reveal Obama's pastor problem
2 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Democrat Barack Obama suffered in the polls Thursday after a much-acclaimed speech on race that, pundits said, had failed to defuse voters' anger over rage-filled sermons by his former pastor.

Waging an acrimonious battle against Hillary Clinton for the Democrats' White House nomination, Obama confessed to being bruised by the controversy surrounding his longtime Chicago preacher, Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

snip/

A clutch of polls released since Tuesday pointed to an erosion of Obama's support, with white working-class voters and independents especially alienated. That could hurt him in the Democrats' next primary in Pennsylvania on April 22.

The latest Gallup daily tracking poll found Clinton pulling into a seven-point lead nationally over Obama, 49 percent to 42 percent. It was Clinton's first statistically significant lead over Obama in more than a month.

"The initial indications are that the speech has not halted Clinton's gaining momentum, as she led by a similar margin in Tuesday night's polling as compared to Monday night's polling," Gallup said.

snip/

"If the sort of figures we've been seeing in the past 48 hours persist, they will certainly play into the superdelegates' calculation," said Bill Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former White House advisor.

MORE: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j4bjBBOuH3zr4Ioa-bzHoDWa81JA

[EFerrari]

1. Who did Galston work for, do you know? n/t

[Maddy McCall]

5. Currently, Brookings.

In the past, Clinton and other presidents.

[merh]

2. Don't tell me you buy into this Maddy

for the love of all things reasonable, you can't be happy about this for the party, you just can't?

[EFerrari]

3. Never mind. He worked for the Clintons. Gee, what a surprise.

Bill Galston, former deputy domestic policy adviser to Clinton.

[Maddy McCall]

6. LOL. Go ahead and discount the rest of the bad news for Obama, then.

One sentence in the whole article from Galston, and you focus on who he worked for 10 years ago instead of the rest of the article.

Not suprised. Bad news isn't well accepted in the Obama camp.

[EFerrari]

10. Sweetie, this just isn't worth it.

I'm sorry. When my guys dropped out, I had no candidate and no preference. I sort of wish I was back there and had never seen this cr@p.

[merh]

9. This is getting more and more disgusting.

I just don't understand why so many support the hate and the distortions.

[EFerrari]

15. Hiya, merh. I don't either. Maybe it's the power trip.

The Clintons have or had a lot of that.

:shrug:

[merh]

22. it's pathetic

I've learned a great deal about folks through this - stuff I didn't want to know or believe about them.

[EFerrari]

23. I know.

:hug:

[merh]

27. god help us

:hug:

[rodeodance]

11. no matter---I have been it all over -from the left and right. Put that on your radar.

[atal]

4. Polls are generally wrong

We need to wait until the next primary in Pennsylvania on April 22 to know exactly where Clinton and Obama stand.

[2rth2pwr]

16. LOL!

[atal]

38. you know I'm right...?!

[LakeSamish706]

7. Now thats a really unbiased source... See below...

Bill Galston:

In the first two years of President Bill Clinton's administration, Galston served as the Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=William_Galston

[Barack_America]

13. Another example of truth being less important than serving your point.

Disappointing, to say the least.

ETA: "Your" being the collective DU "your", not you specifically.

[rodeodance]

20. YUP---you is into using the ROVIAN tactic of KILLING THE MESSENGER

[Barack_America]

26. Wow. You think that my opinion is that powerful?

That my simple disagreement is powerful enough to actually KILL someone? Wow. Thanks, I think.

[JuniperLea]

29. It's not you personally...

It's the tactic that holds power... to those of us who don't recognize it, of course.

[LSparkle]

8. Gallup = GOP

Beware the source.

[rodeodance]

17. You are good at the ROVIAN tactic of KILLING THE MESSENGER

[LSparkle]

19. I've read here many times that Gallup skews right

and now I'm "killing the messenger"? In general, polls have been
UNRELIABLE during this cycle anyway.

[jefferson_dem]

12. Actually, the LATEST Gallup polls shows Obama gaining a point and Hillary losing one.

[Barack_America]

18. Shh. That's not the spin the OP was going for.

FoxNews is the new DU. Haven't you heard? RW talking points are ALL the rage! Everyone is using them!

[rodeodance]

14. REC

[Upton]

21. Rasmussen has Obama up

it also shows Hillary with an unfavorable rating of 55%, now THAT is a problem.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/daily_presidential_tracking_poll

[cbayer]

35. Obama's unfavorable is at 49%.

That is also a problem.

And the biggest problem, this same poll shows McCain beating either one:
"McCain currently leads Barack Obama 49% to 42% and Hillary Clinton 51% to 41% margin".

[LulaMay]

24. I cannot believe people thought for a minute this wasn't serious and would enrage voters.

So much so that they believed a damage control speech would make it all go away.

A fine speech, but damage control.

[EFerrari]

32. Especially if you believe the Clinton plant quoted in that article.

Once you know how these people move, it's pretty easy to track them.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

25. The Wright Scream

[EFerrari]

33. Sell it! Just don't blame anyone else if it hurts him in November

because YOU promoted this hateful sh!t.

[Larkspur]

28. I expect the polls to look bad for Obama for a bit but they will rebound

The Media has been using the "Southern Strategy" in reporting on this topic. Eventually, people will let this madness pass and come to their senses.

Obama needs to follow up on his speech about Wright and racism with getting his surrogates on the media outlets repeating his speech's themes and attacking the Republicans for making matters worse for all Americans.

[JuniperLea]

30. Hiya Maddy!

Haven't seen you around in a while.

Did you see where I was called a Hillbot and an Obamaniac all in response to one post?

It's getting way nutty around here!

:silly:

[Maddy McCall]

34. Hey, sweetheart!

I had surgery on March 11. Just got home last night...fired up DU this morning and lookie here.

OMG...the Hillbot and Obamaniac thing. :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[greyghost]

31. In another couple of months gas will be $4 a gallon, that's before

the summer season spike, milk $4 a gallon, bread $4 a loaf. Bush and McBush will remain clueless.

Many more mortgage foreclosures, many more jobs lost, many more vehicles repoed. Bush and McBush will remain clueless.

TPTB in the Democratic Party will be wise NOT TO PUSH THE PANIC BUTTON.

Obama can sell a freezer to an Eskimo, all is well.

[Joe Chi Minh]

36. I was never scared that people would be taken in by it all. I was worried that

it was that infamous Republicans' 'noise-machine' being used at full throttle, to enable them to skew the polls and make it look as if people had turned against Obama. I strongly suspect my fears have been substantiated.

[PetraPooh]

37. Apparently you have selective reading ability and missed this...

"Obama made a major speech on Tuesday addressing the race issue in large part to help move past the controversy. While Tuesday night polling showed no immediate benefit for Obama, the Wednesday results were more favorable to him, as reflected in the slight drop in Clinton's three-day average lead. This suggests at least the possibility that Obama has stopped his losses. The tracking data over the next several days will be a crucial indicator of the lasting impact, if any, of the Wright controversy."

from the Gallup polling sites statistics that are being quoted in your link. Link is here.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/105517/Gallup-Daily-Clinton-Holds-Onto-Lead-Over-Obama.aspx

The poll was published today, but admits that it is not clearly showing the results of the post-speech responses because the polling was primarily pre-speech. They recommendation. . . stay tuned because Obama appears to be rebounding