Reuters/Zogby Poll: McCain-46%, Obama-41% (likely voters)

[npincus]

Face it: McCain's gutter campaign with MSM TLC is having an effect... i think Obama needs to shake it up with an 'surprise' ad that the MSM will play and discuss ad nauseum.

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUKN1948672420080820?sp=true

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a sharp turnaround, Republican John McCain has opened a 5-point lead on Democrat Barack Obama in the U.S. presidential race and is seen as a stronger manager of the economy, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.

McCain leads Obama among likely U.S. voters by 46 percent to 41 percent, wiping out Obama's solid 7-point advantage in July and taking his first lead in the monthly Reuters/Zogby poll.

The reversal follows a month of attacks by McCain, who has questioned Obama's experience, criticized his opposition to most new offshore oil drilling and mocked his overseas trip.

The poll was taken Thursday through Saturday as Obama wrapped up a weeklong vacation in Hawaii that ceded the political spotlight to McCain, who seized on Russia's invasion of Georgia to emphasize his foreign policy views.

[BluegrassDem]

1. The funny thing is that McCain still can't break the mid-40's

no matter the poll.

[JoshDem]

2. Winner will have less than 50% of vote

[TwilightGardener]

3. Tying McShame to Bush is not working. People are only tired of Bush, they're

apparently not seeing much of a connection between McCheater and Bush. My theory is that people vote personality, character and familiarity--not so much issues. That's why McStupid is ahead on the economy, despite having absolutely NO economic plan. People transfer their belief that he's old and wise and experienced onto various issues. It almost doesn't matter what he says or does.

[qazplm]

5. its not cheating

its being nasty and vicious.

Something we Democrats need to start learning.

Stop being so pure on whether or not an ad is accurate or fair, the voters DO NOT CARE and they reward nasty and vicious because they think it looks like strength and toughness.

We haven't had a presidential candidate who learned that lesson since LBJ. Clinton got lucky in both Perot and the fact that comparatively Bush I was just not nearly as nasty as he could have been in 92. No Willie Horton ads, didn't really go after Clinton on adultery rumors.

[TwilightGardener]

10. If you're referring to my use of "McCheater", that's in reference

to the Saddleback thing, where McCone clearly was coached in advance. Now, you're not going to get an argument from me that Obama needs to punch McStupid in the nuts, hard and repeatedly--I've been saying that for two months now. I'm all for going negative--I've argued that Obama needs to make McCheater UNACCEPTABLE, on a gut level, to the voting public. Paint him as old, confused, temperamental, someone who will get us all killed, someone who doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground.

[demokatgurrl]

27. Exactly. It's long past time to take the damned gloves off.

Obama is doing better than Kerry but still not fighting back hard enough. And where the hell are the Democratic attack dogs???? We need them. Maybe after Obama makes his VP pick, the other contenders will step up.

[Union Thug]

31. self delete.

[npincus]

11. Oh, I think it will work... the tone, tenor and quantity of Obama ads

linking McCain to Chimp needs to escalate in a BIG way.

here is one i would recommend: the disastrous response to hurricane katrina is forever linked to B*sh incompetence AND Republican control of Congress... there exists a HeAP of images from the aftermath which case a visceral feeling of DISGUST in all Americans, regardless of party.

How about an ad, juxtaposing the images of suffering americans, and Mccain and b*sh holding a lovely cake at a fundraiser at the EXACT time of this disaster... with a voice-over saying something like; 'john mccain says he will protect you from disaster coming to our shores... well, where was he only 2 years ago when we needed him"... or something like that... equally hard-hitting. it's time to go THERE.

[TwilightGardener]

16. I know it's the conventional wisdom, but here's the problem--

people know that McCain is not Bush. People have by and large gotten over Katrina, gotten over the war--they're sick of Bush, they think he fucked those things up--but they're NOT opposed to a "different" Republican who might do a better job. What we need to do is stop running against Bush, and start running against McCain. To many, he's an old, experienced war hero who isn't a classic assholish GOPer (and he's white, may I add), and many voters are NOT going to look any deeper than that. We're losing DEM support, and no, it has nothing to do with FISA--most lo-info Americans, most Democrats, think that's something that gets deducted in taxes from their paycheck every month or something. Drilling has been successful for the GOPers. Russia/Georgia has been good for them too, which is why McCain/Scheuneman/Rove/BushCo encouraged Georgia to invade S. Ossetia. August surprise. And the media played along in giving McCain credit for his insane belligerent ramblings. We're losing Dems to McCain because people aren't looking for change as much as they feel uneasy. In the crunch, the American people play it safe, and McShithead looks safe as the old white Republican guy. We need to counter that somehow.

[progressoid]

22. Yep. The ties to Bush worked for a while but we need attack from all angles.

Bush is last years news.

We need to show the last few percent of fence sitters a reason to avoid McCain and move to Obama.

[TwilightGardener]

25. We need to beat McCain down, make him look confused and risky and stupid.

Ads need to go up with his reaction to the Viagara/Birth control question, the one where he just looks absolutely befuddled for about 10 seconds. Combine that with a few other instances of him looking really stupid, and then a voice-over says, Is he fit for office? Something like that. It has to be a blow to the nerts. Obama doesn't want to do it, Dems are queasy about making age an issue, but it's our best advantage right now, because issues (which Dems are always right on, even though they keep losing) are NOT going to decide this election.

[progressoid]

29. Or Lieberman whispering corrections in his ear!

There is a gold mine of damning material out there. USE IT!!!

Sorry for shouting in all caps, but this slipping in the polls to McAwful is a bit distressing.

I am optimistic about the debate though. I think if Obama is at the top of his game he'll wipe the floor with McHorrible.

[curious one]

4. Cheating pays off! Also having a corrupt media on his side.

[TwilightGardener]

7. I agree--the media has beaten Obama down, just as they did in March

thru May to level the playing field with Hillary. Media coverage for the past month has been: "Is Obama presumptuous and arrogant? Is he playing the race card? Is he an empty celebrity? Why isn't he CRUSHING McCain? Why is he only a few points ahead? McCain benefits from the Georgian war, because he's a foreign policy expert"--and so on. Almost no positive coverage of Obama. Almost no negative analysis of McCain--just a daily dissemination of GOP talking points.

[Cosmocat]

21. I thought they would Pastorgate him again ...

but there hasn't been that one subject they could grab ahold of, so as you aptly pointed out, they have just ground him to bits on one small non story after another, while BOTH ignoring in TOTAL the endless string of genuine McCain gaffes, while taking the opportunity to pump up McCain in any way possible ...

The trend is VERY disturbing, and frankly is going to force BO to have to reign in the "50 state" campaign and pick his battle ground states ...

He still has more "outs" electorally than McCain, that is the good news, but his opportunity to wage a very large war is gone ... He has to build fire walls in the Kerry states that have some chance of being picked off - Michigan for instance ... Then pick those states he has a real chance to pick up and pour as much of his resources in to them as possible ...

NC and GA ... Don't let them go totally, but he is NOT going to pick them up ...

[TwilightGardener]

23. I agree on the fifty-state--that would be a nice strategy if his poll

numbers were the same as they were in June and July, but they no longer are, and it's time to adjust to the reality and focus on hanging on to our blue states plus a few swings. We just need to get over the finish line, Obama is not going to sweep in on a landslide.

[Loge23]

6. Can the U.S. get any dumber?

Can you believe this?
How stupid are the people of this country anyway?
Please let me know if any of you have found a better place to live - and there MUST be someplace better than this.
If we elect McInsane, I have to leave.
What a shame.
I figured that the hoods would come out in the voting booth anyway.

[bushisanidiot]

8. Yawn. That poll was taken while Obama was on vacation and Ms. McLame was

spewing Rove's hate invoking slogans.

There will be a major jump in the numbers for Obama beginning this weekend and for the next few weeks. Obama is starting to hit back hard, and people are starting to question McLame's background.

[michreject]

14. So you're saying "out of sight, out of mind"

I don't think so. This should be taken very seriously.

[AmericanUnity]

9. OK. AFTER THE CONVENTION IT'S TIME TO WORK LIKE WE'VE NEVER WORKED BEFORE! NO MORE WHINING

[Phoonzang]

12. Oooo it's beginning to look alot like 2004,

eeeverywhere you gooo.

[shaniqua6392]

13. Obama needs to pick the right running mate

and he needs to get more aggressive with McCain. The media did it's smear job on Hillary Clinton to get her out and now they are doing the same thing to Obama.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

15. How representative is this sample?

1089 people were polled

[MojoMojoMojo]

20. Thats a standard # of people polled.Zogby is usually BIASED toward Obama

[kevinmc]

17. The poll was taken Thursday through Saturday as Obama wrapped up a weeklong vacation

The poll conducted last Thursday through Saturday came on the heels of the Russian invasion of Georgia -- the same time period that Obama vacationed in Hawaii


This to shall pass

[Douglas Carpenter]

18. Obama still leads on Rasmussen 47/45 and CNN 46/43 and RCP AVERAGE=44.9/43

This is not particularly good news and does show that it is now high time for the Obama campaign to attack, attack and attack,

But it is not as desperate as some would think:

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

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/08/20/cnn-poll-of-polls-obama-lead-cut-in-half-2/

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/

[Inuca]

19. This is SCARY

Please, oh please, not again... :cry:

OK, got it out of the system, now I'll try to get back to being positive and doing the little that I can.

[jzodda]

24. Are we really that dumb as a nation?

That we would reward 8 terrible years with at least 4 more for the same party? What will it take to wake up this country?

[bdamomma]

26. they really want 8 more years of death and destruction

:puke:

are americans that stupid to fall for this man? nevermind.

[Thrill]

28. Remember Obama was suppose to win TX by 10 over Hillary according to Zogby

[JaneQPublic]

30. And Zogby announced days before 2004 election that Kerry would win (nt)