CNN poll: Post-Biden poll shows dead heat
DENVER, Colorado (CNN) - It’s a dead heat in the race for the White House. The first national poll conducted entirely after Barack Obama publicly named Joe Biden as his running mate suggests that battle for the presidency between the Illinois senator and Republican rival John McCain is all tied up.
In a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll out Sunday night, 47 percent of those questioned are backing Obama with an equal amount supporting the Arizona senator.
“This looks like a step backward for Obama, who had a 51 to 44 percent advantage last month,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.
“Even last week, just before his choice of Joe Biden as his running mate became known, most polls tended to show Obama with a single-digit advantage over McCain,” adds Holland.
So what’s the difference now?
It may be supporters of Hillary Clinton, who still would prefer the Senator from New York as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee.
Sixty-six percent of Clinton supporters, registered Democrats who want Clinton as the nominee, are now backing Obama. That’s down from 75 percent in the end of June. Twenty-seven percent of them now say they’ll support McCain, up from 16 percent in late June.
“The number of Clinton Democrats who say they would vote for McCain has gone up 11 points since June, enough to account for most although not all of the support McCain has gained in that time,” says Holland.
Clinton and Obama battled throughout the primary season, with Clinton winning more than 40 percent of the delegates. She suspended her bid for the White House and backed Obama in early June, after the end of the primary season.
A majority of registered voters, 54 percent, think Obama’s choice of Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his running mate is an excellent or good decision. That number jumps to 73 percent when just asked of registered Democrats. But it drops to 59 percent when narrowed to Clinton supporters.
“It's not that there's anything wrong with the choice of Joe Biden. A majority of those polled rate the Biden selection as excellent or pretty good. Voters think he is qualified to be president, and with the exception of Al Gore in 1992, the public ranks Biden as the most qualified running mate in recent times," says Holland.
"A lot of Americans don't know who he is, but his favorable rating is 13 points higher than his unfavorables But Biden is not Hillary Clinton, and it's possible that is enough to have moved some of her supporters away from the Democratic ticket, at least temporarily."
Among all Democrats, only 38 percent say Obama should have selected Clinton as his running mate.
Will Biden’s naming as Obama’s running mate make a difference? Maybe not. Seventy-four percent of all voters questioned in the survey say it won’t have any effect on their vote for president.
The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted on Saturday and Sunday, with 1,023 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey’s sampling error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points for all voters. For registered Democrats, it is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points, and for Democrats who still support Clinton for the party's nomination, it is plus or minus 7.5 percentage points.
Have everybody learnt a person can win by losing He has change how we look at canidate that a win win not only here in this country but all around the world. As cnn say fair and balance in deal with other than Euro. people. God bless America.
I hear a quite a few Hillary supporters state they vote McCain because he's qualified, but they never say they agree with his views. So, if your going by the bases of qualifications, how is Hillary more qualified than Biden? Biden has done more than Hillary. All kidding aside, let's be honest, because she was different than your normal candate. But so is Obama, and they all three have the same agenda. They may approach it differently but as long as they are working together, what's the big deal. The best way to vote, is to find out who is thinking of you, if McCain is fine, go with him. If Obama is, great, will be happy to have you on our side, but don't ever forget, if your just going to the other side out of spite, you better bet that we will never foget and Hillary won't have a chance in HELL, to ever being nominated, because just like you can get angry this election year, so can we in the next one!
one more thing we need to thank palosi, reid, dean, kennedy, and that former senator from s dakota....to loose another election...kick the bums out of office and put Hillary and Bill at the top....One last thing thought and prayer to s tubbs jones family...what an amazing women with amazing courage and conviction.....
To what's best for usa. If Barrack is elected China will thrive. If he tries to go directly to alternative sources and force coal and oil on us before the markets dictate it china will surge. carbon fuels are by far the least expensive fuel source even at today's prices. If we decide not to use them while they are still the cheapest source, i can almost gaurantee china will enjoy far lower energy costs than the usa and energy is the most critical part of today's economies. And the comments about the destruction and bad economy..what? can't afford another big screen. you whiners need to wake up and find some gratitude for the fact that you were born or moved to the USA. things are not so bad as the media claims. a glitch with small growth is not devestation.
I am purposely watching the DNC because I support Democrats. I do not appreciate the overwhelming blitz of negative commentary and commentators (ex. Republican Robert Bennett) that CNN seems determined to deliver. Does this mean that Democrats will be invited to skewer Republicans on CNN during the RNC?
Please people.......lay off the negativity, and just let us enjoy Democrats celebrating the convention.....and appropriate news reflecting that event..
Mc Cain can have his day in the sun at the RNC.
We are going to vote Obama down along with the corrupt DNC leaders...Pelosi, Dean, Brazille, and Reid. Vote the criminals OUT! Think, the next time you try to push a candidate down the people's throats and allow caucus fraud to become rampant. The DNC is terrible.
Nat. Enq. has the Clinton fraud thing coming out soon – he he he he he They have investigative journalists !!!!!
Also I think that we should give a tax exemption as soon as a woman gets pregnant....it's a living person then. We need to change the tax code to add this........someone get this moving. It's the least the Republicans can do for children...............