Poll: Bitter Battle Hurting Obama, Clinton
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are suffering in the polls from their prolonged and increasingly bitter primary fight, a new Wall Street Journal-NBC News survey suggests.
The poll, released Wednesday, showed Obama’s speech on race and the attention paid to comments by his longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, so far have had little effect on the Democratic race. The survey showed the Democratic candidates are still in a dead heat, each with 45 percent support among Democrats.
But the candidates have individually lost ground with voters — more voters see the Democrats in a negative light than they did just two weeks ago in a similar poll. This is especially true for Clinton.
The poll, taken from March 24-25 of 700 registered voters, showed 48 percent of voters view Clinton negatively, compared with the 37 percent who view her positively. Just two weeks ago, 43 percent viewed her negatively and 45 percent viewed her positively.
For Obama, 32 percent view him negatively and 49 percent view him positively. That’s a slight change from two weeks ago, when 28 percent viewed him negatively and 51 percent viewed him positively.
This could bode well for presumptive GOP nominee John McCain, whose numbers have stayed strong as Obama and Clinton bicker. McCain was still viewed positively by 45 percent of those surveyed, compared with just 25 percent who viewed him negatively.
Obama has had to respond in recent weeks to videos of Wright’s sermons, including one in which he shouts “God damn America” for its treatment of minorities. Wright also has said the U.S. government invented AIDS to destroy “people of color” and has suggested U.S. policies were to blame for the 9/11 attacks.
In a speech last week, Obama rejected Wright’s divisive comments but stood by him otherwise and said it is time for the country to address its racial schism.
By 55 percent to 32 percent, more who had seen or heard about Obama’s speech said they were satisfied with his explanation of his association with Wright than said they were dissatisfied.
Yet people familiar with Obama’s remarks were about evenly split between those who said they felt reassured about his feelings on race, and those who said they still had doubts. Slightly more said Obama has said enough about race than said he needs to address it further.
In all instances, whites were more dubious than blacks about whether Obama had handled the issue successfully. Democrats were far more supportive than Republicans, while independents were likelier to be divided.
Meanwhile, Clinton has helped keep the issue on the radar screen, saying for the first time this week that Wright would not have been her pastor.
Click here to see the Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
when will everyone wake up and see what the clintons are doing to the democratic party. rev.wright made those negative comments, not obama. they are trying to “scare” white people with this negative image of this black radical. I am a black person that does not agree with the small sounds bites fused together of rev. wrights remarks, however this man is NOT running for president at all. Hillary told lies, Hilliary is playing the race card, Hillary is destroying the party. Obama has projected more dignity, class, control and has risen above the BS that HRC is trying to keep going. No one should be afraid of a classy, qualified man of principal and firm beliefs for the advancement of this country. If you were offended by his speech and explaniation of his association of rev. wright, then you are flat out in DENIAL about this world. How many people in the clinton, bush, or mc.cain family have uttered the N word at the dinner table and how many of your mothers, grandmothers, or sisters are afraid when a man of color passes by. You should be proud of a man who has the courage to confront that head on. You KNOW it’s the truth, so why are you so offended. I will take my black vote STRAIGHT to mc.cain if obama is robbed of hid right. I challenge anyone to take 2 seconds to listen to any sermon preached by rev.wright for at least 5 minuets and you will have the wool removed from your eyes. I guess he “mis spoke” . It’s time to shed the hatred and do what’s best for our country.
The “battle” is hurting Hil-Liar-y more than Obama, although both are suffering for it. Clinton and her campaign all know the numbers and they know that she cannot capture the nomination by legitimate means. No matter what she does, Obama still comes out ahead of her in commited delegates. However, that has not and will not stop her from attempting to make sure that Obama gets hurt as much as she can engineer. In other words, if she can’t have the nomination, then she doesn’t want anyone else to have a chance either. This is just Clinton’s way of stamping her feet because the nomination wasn’t somehow “given” to her. If she can’t have the nomination then she will do her best to make sure that the democratic nominee (Obama) loses in November. People have memories, short though they may be, and Clinton will obtain a legacy from her actions that will forever prevent democrats from considering her in the future. The more she rants and raves, the higher the price she will pay for it.
I am shocked, saddened and ashamed at the behavior that Hillary and Bill are exhibiting. They are what I knew them to be: devious, blatently dishonest and evil. What kind of parent would bring their child into such a situation as this.
The Democrat Party has been without substance since they voted in Jimmy Carter.
Nobody is tearing the party apart! We will all come together around Hillary in November!!! Let the process go on for all of us political junkies! Obama is a “Sham.” $16,500 a year, spends 20 years listening to the nutty minister,writes 2 books, gets the salary push so the wife is no longer the primary bread winner,moves into the million dollar house with Rezko’s help . Wins the Senate against Alan Keyes, now on to the The Presidency???? Then they say they aren’t proud to be Americans?
Bill Clinton being chastised for calling it a “Fairy Tale” well he was wrong about one thing The Grimm Boys could never had made this story up!
I don’t like the way it states that I have already said something when I didn’t say it! I wanted to say since c comes before o and a woman is first- why is the head line for Fox and other news- always printing Obama, Clinton? Shouldn’t it be Clinton, Obama?!?
Since c comes before o and a woman is first before a man- why are the head lines always stating Obama, Clinton? Shouldn’t it be Clinton, Obama?!?!
Just curious- since c comes before o and a woman is first before a man- why are the head lines always stating Obama, Clinton? Shouldn’t it be Clinton, Obama?!?!
Again the Party has no clue to what will make the majority of the american people understand what the Party stands for and what will be the policy’s for the future. Mrs. Clinton gives a great show but beware of the content, and Mr. Obama is still someone who the avarage American knows little about. The fighting has had a terrible effect on the status of the canidates and will continue for a long time. America needs better, wants better and derserves better. If this is all the party has to offer that lets vote again for the less of two evils…..
In the short run Obama won’t be hurt much and will probably win the nomination, but lose the general election.
Blacks will, understandably, follow Obama no matter what. Obama will also most likely keep the youth vote, simply because almost everything against Obama is a question of patrriotism, and the young have not had Pedge of Allegiance and so forth a daily part of their lives as children, so they don’t react in outrage to a Senator being a member of a church with a un-patriotic theme for 20 years. The young and the blacks are more likely to look at all of this as a race thing.
Obama cannot win the general election simply because most older voters have a far stronger and lasting reaction to anything anti-American and dislike extremes…like extreme left, which is what Obama is, and people treat the general election much more seriously, often the only time they vote.