Falling Like A "Barack"

by Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families: The past week has clearly taken a toll on the Obama campaign. Multiple surveys indicate that his poll numbers are falling like a rock, and so far his speech seems to have done little to slow his descent. Gallup reports that Hillary Clinton has taken a statistically significant lead among Democrats nationally for the first time in a month. Just one week ago, Obama was leading Clinton 50%-to-44%. Today, Clinton leads Obama 49%-to-42%.

In the all-important Pennsylvania primary, where an Obama victory next month would knock Hillary out of the race, Clinton's average lead in all Pennsylvania polls over the last two weeks is 16 points. But in the most recent survey, taken over the weekend as the Jeremiah Wright controversy was breaking, Hillary opened up a massive 26-point lead.

The latest Rasmussen Reports poll of Democrat primary voters gives Obama a three point lead nationally, but that's down from eight points just six days ago. Worse for Obama, he has posted a net negative favorability rating for the past four days now, with 49% of the public viewing him unfavorably and 48% viewing him favorably. One week ago, Obama registered an eight-point positive favorability rating, with 52% of the public viewing him positively and 44% viewing him negatively.

The bitterness among Democrats is creating major problems for their eventual nominee. In hypothetical November match-ups, pollster Scott Rasmussen discovered that Hillary Clinton would attract only 55% of the African-American vote if she were the Democrat nominee against John McCain. Should Obama win the nomination, Rasmussen found that only 36% of white voters would support him. In either case, McCain is the clear frontrunner in the race for the White House, leading Barack Obama 49%-to-42% and defeating Hillary Clinton 51%-to-41%.

---

Tags: Barack Obama, Election 2008, Gallup Poll, Gary Bauer, Hillary Clinton, John Mccain, presidential candidates To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!