October 6, 2008
ONE RIDES A UNICORN, THE OTHER'S RIDING A PITBULL:
CBS Poll: Presidential Race Tightens (CBS News, 10/06/08)
In a sign that the race for president has returned to about where it was before the first presidential debate, the Obama-Biden ticket leads the McCain-Palin ticket 47 percent to 43 percent among registered voters in a new CBS News poll.The Obama-Biden ticket led by a wider margin, nine percentage points, in a CBS News poll released last Wednesday, before Joe Biden and Sarah Palin faced off in the vice presidential debate. Obama-Biden led by five percentage points on Sept. 25.
In the new poll, the Democratic ticket leads by 3 percentage points, 48 percent to 45 percent, among likely voters. [...]
Roughly one in five registered voters have yet to commit to a candidate, though they may lean towards one or the other. [...]
Twenty-four percent of registered voters are "very confident" that the Democratic nominee would make the right decisions on the economy, down five points from before the presidential debate. Forty-one percent are not confident, up from 34 percent.
Fifteen percent are "very confident" in McCain when it comes to the economy, meanwhile, and 44 percent are not confident.
Three observations:
(1) The record viewership for the VP debate suggests an electorate looking for a reason not to vote against the Republican.
(2) The hysteria with which the Obama camp is reacting to mention of his pal, Bill Ayers, would seem to indicate their own internal polling scares them. They must think McCain/Palin can successfully raise doubts about Senator Obama.
(3) Mr. Obama isn't helped by the economy but by the faith that if things get really bad the liberal Democrat is more likely to crank up the Welfare State and take care of you.