Barack Obama is riding high as the March 4 primaries approach. Obama has moved out to a broad-based advantage over Hillary Clinton in the national Democratic primary contest and holds a 50%-43% lead over John McCain in a general election matchup.
However, the survey results point to several potential hazards for Obama. A solid majority of voters (56%) says Obama has not provided enough information about his plans and policies; in contrast, most voters say Clinton and McCain have disclosed enough information about their plans. Moreover, a plurality of voters (43%) says that Obama would not be "tough enough" in dealing with foreign policy and national security issues.
That's the overview from Pew Research. Some of the details show that among Democratic voters, the preference for Obama over Clinton is now 49% to 40%. The same voters believe -- 70% to 17% -- that Obama is most likely to win.
In general, the single words used to describe Obama [charisma, intelligent, change, inspirational] are very positive, but the word "inexperienced" is used most frequently to describe the Illinois senator.
"Experienced" is the word used most often to describe Clinton, with the words "strong" and "untrustworthy" also mentioned frequently. For McCain, the word "old" is used most often as a descriptor, far outnumbering mentions of "honest," "experienced" and "patriot."
Nearly a third of all voters (32%) believe that, at 71 years old, McCain is too old to be president, while 66% say that being 71 does not make him too old.
Well, we could have guessed that. But what's surprising (and remember, a great many Republicans are switching to vote for Obama) is that Hillary people may defect to McCain if she doesn't get the nomination. We already know they are bitter and angry at Clinton's losses. Now, according to Pew, some of them (white) will take McCain over Obama.
Although attention has been focused on McCain's problems with the GOP base, there are indications that some Democrats might defect if Obama is the party's nominee. Overall, 20% of white Democratic voters say they would vote for McCain if Obama is the Democratic nominee. That is twice the percentage of white Democrats who say they would support McCain in a Clinton-McCain matchup. Older Democrats (ages 65 and older), lower-income and less educated Democrats also would support McCain at higher levels if Obama rather than Clinton is the party's nominee.
But perhaps that will change as the bitterness wears off. Or will it? Many of us feel the same way about Clinton -- just couldn't vote for her. If these feelings last, November could see a Republican victory. If McCain lasts, that is. Anyone else believe the media may bring McCain down with growing investigations into his terms in the Senate?
