Since Obama wrapped up the nomination, he's had a small solid lead on McCain. Now, all the polls are indicating that they're pretty much neck and neck. It's easy to panic, but I don't think this should be a big deal. I think it was unrealistic to think that Obama would just cruise through to election day. We live in a very partisan era; the last two elections have been very close, this one will probably follow suit.
According to the LAT/Bloomberg poll, Obama's favorable rating has slipped from 59% to 48% while his negative rating has risen from 27% to 35%. That sounds alarming at first, but I think it should've been expected. His new numbers are still slightly better than McCain's (46% positive, 38% negative), who is generally regarded to be very popular among independents andabout as liked as a Republican can be among Democrats. Obama's earlier numbers were unsustainable in this highly partisan era. During the primary, some conservatives hadn't focused hard on Obama's positions and the Republican attack machine was just getting warmed up. Now, both candidates are in the middle of a battle and people are choosing sides. It's a lot easier to view both candidates favorably in February than it is in November; we're seeing that shift in full effect right now.
Posts
