It's the Economy (Again), Stupid

According to the New York Times/CBS news poll, voters rate the economy their top priority and trust Obama to deal with it more than McCain:

Mr. Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, was trusted more by voters to handle their top concern, the economy. Sixty-five percent of those surveyed said they were confident that Mr. Obama would make the right decisions on the economy, compared with 54 percent who expressed confidence that Mr. McCain would.

More trust McCain as commander in chief but only 15% rate the war in Iraq a priority as opposed to 40% who rate the economy as their main concern.

On top of that, more voters are pessimistic with the economy than at any time since 1992 when Bill Clinton was voted into office. This is bad, bad news for McCain because the poll also indicates that voters closely associate him with the deeply unpopular Bush, with half expecting him to continue Bush's policies if he is elected president.

The bad news doesn't end there for John McSame. There is an enthusiasm gap, with twice as many Obama supporters describing themselves as enthusiastic compared to McCain supporters.

Those negative attacks portraying Obama as elitist and a Paris Hilton-type celebrity also backfired: voters now see McCain as a negative campaigner who spends more time attacking Obama than explaining why he should be president. Most devastating of all:

Voters were somewhat more likely to say that Mr. Obama cares about the needs and problems of people like them than Mr. McCain does. Fifty-five percent of those surveyed said that Mr. Obama was someone they could relate to, while only 41 percent described Mr. McCain that way. And 63 percent said that Mr. Obama shares the values most Americans live by — the same number who said that Mr. McCain does.

In spite of many current polls trumpeting a virtual tie, Obama still has an edge, though arguably slight.

The way to widen the gap is clear: emphasize that McCain is a trigger-happy and out of touch Bush clone so bankrupt of ideas he has nothing to offer except attacks on Obama.

Technorati Tags: obama mc cain bush economy poll politics

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