Poll Says Obama Falls Behind Because of Wright

May 5, 2008 12:54 PM | | Comments (0)

Hillary Clinton is leading Barack Obama 51 percent to 44 percent in a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted May 1-3. The margin of error is 5 percent. USA Today’s take on its results is that Obama has been significantly damaged by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy raising questions among some voters about his “values, credibility and electability.” Obama had led by 10 points in this poll before the re-emergence of the Wright issue.

Gallup's own daily tracking poll has Obama ahead of Clinton 50 percent to 45 percent in its survey of May 2-4. The margin of error is 3 points.

The conclusion drawn by the USA Today/Gallup poll on the impact of Wright is different than the view taken yesterday by the New York Times/CBS News poll which said that most Americans said the furor has not affected their view of Obama and approved of the way he has handled the matter, although the Times did put a number of caveats on that finding. It did agree with a Rasmussen Reports finding from last week that many Americans believe that Obama’s latest denunciation of Wright was for political reasons rather than sincere disagreement.

One third of voters say Obama’s association with Wright makes them less likely to vote for him – about the same number who say the same thing about Clinton’s association with Bill Clinton.

Of those respondents following the Wright story, 42 percent believe that Obama disagrees with his former pastor, 25 percent said Obama strongly disagree with him and 21 percent think Obama does agree with him. Sixty-four percent said Obama had handled the matter well or very well compared to 34 percent who said he had done it poorly or very poorly. In one twist, the poll asked if Clinton’s pastor had made equally controversial remarks would it have received more or less attention. Fourteen percent of those following the story said more, 56 percent said the same amount and 27 percent said less.

On the favorability ratings scale, Obama’s ratio is a positive 58 percent to 37 percent (the unfavorable figure is a new high for him), Clinton’s is 52 percent to 45 percent and John McCain’s is 62 percent to 30 percent.

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