Obama Falling Behind Among White Working Class Dems

May 1, 2008 3:00 PM | | Comments (0)

Barack Obama has lost his lead over Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination and a smaller percentage of Democrats describe him in favorable terms, according to a new Pew Research poll conducted April 23-27. Obama's 10 point lead in this poll in March is now 47 percent to 45 percent, with a 5 point margin of error.

The Pew survey falls in line with others in recent days that show the difficulties that Obama is having among white voters, particularly white working class voters, after a month in which much campaign news was dominated by the controversy over his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and Obama’s “bitter” reference about small town Americans who had been suffering economically. Clinton led among white voters in April 54 percent to 38 percent, compared to a 44 percent tie with Obama in March. Among whites with educations of high school or less, she led Obama 65 percent to 25 percent, a gain of 15 points over March, and among whites earning less than $50,000 a year, she led 58 percent to 34 percent, a jump of 11 points compared to a month earlier.

Pew rated the favorability of each candidate by several criteria. Obama is still viewed favorably on most counts, but his biggest decline came when voters were asked if he was “down to earth,” a measure by which he fell 9 points since March to 73 percent. When voters were asked to rate Clinton’s honesty, her mark fell from 65 percent in March to 57 percent in April. Thirty-five percent called her phony in April compared to 29 percent in March.

Pew says, “there is no indication that either Obama or Clinton have been weakened in general election matchups against John McCain” despite the long and contentious Democratic campaign.

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