Posted on 05/21/2008 12:51:44 PM PDT by meandog
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama has opened an 8-point national lead on Republican John McCain as the U.S. presidential rivals turn their focus to a general election race, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.
Obama, who was tied with McCain in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup last month, moved to a 48 percent to 40 percent lead over the Arizona senator in May as he took command of his grueling Democratic presidential duel with rival Hillary Clinton.
The Illinois senator has not yet secured the Democratic presidential nomination to run against McCain in November.
The poll also found Obama expanded his lead over Clinton in the Democratic race to 26 percentage points, doubling his advantage from mid-April as Democrats begin to coalesce around Obama and prepare for the general election battle with McCain.
"Obama has been very resilient, bouncing back from rough periods and doing very well with independent voters," pollster John Zogby said. "The race with McCain is going to be very competitive."
The poll was taken Thursday through Sunday during a period when Obama came under attack from President George W. Bush and McCain for his promise to talk to hostile foreign leaders without preconditions.
Obama's gains followed a month in which he was plagued with a series of campaign controversies and suffered two big losses to Clinton in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
The poll was conducted after Obama denounced his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who made a series of public appearances that rekindled a controversy over his inflammatory comments on race and religion.
Obama also survived a furor over his comments about "bitter" small-town residents who cling to guns and religion out of frustration over their economic concerns.
Obama edged closer to clinching the Democratic nomination on Tuesday when he split two nominating contests with Clinton, beating the New York senator in Oregon and losing in Kentucky to gain a majority of pledged delegates won in state-by-state nominating contests.
The results put him within easy range of the 2,026 delegates needed for the nomination. Just three Democratic nominating contests remain before voting concludes on June 3.
OBAMA BETTER ON ECONOMY
The poll found Obama was seen as a better steward of the economy than McCain, leading 48 percent to 39 percent. McCain led Obama by 3 points last month on an issue that is certain to be crucial in their campaign.
Obama led McCain among independents, 47 percent to 35 percent, and led among some groups of voters who have backed Clinton during their Democratic primary battle, including Catholics, Jews, union households and voters making less than $35,000 a year.
McCain led among whites, NASCAR fans, and elderly voters. McCain led with voters who believed the United States was on the right track, and Obama led with the much higher percentage of voters who believed it was on the wrong track.
"Clearly voters are looking for change. Every problem Obama has had in consolidating his base and reaching to the center, John McCain has the same sort of problem," Zogby said.
"It's McCain's lead among voters over the age of 65 that is keeping him within shouting distance of Obama," he said.
The poll found Clinton, who has shrugged off calls to quit the Democratic race, tied at 43 percent with McCain in the national poll. She led McCain by 47 percent to 40 percent on who would be the better manager of the economy.
Obama and Clinton have refrained from attacking each other in recent weeks as Obama has turned his focus to McCain.
But Zogby said the attacks on Obama by Bush and McCain, who have been critical of his willingness to talk to leaders of countries like Iran, did not appear to hurt Obama. If anything, he said, it reminded voters of McCain's ties to Bush, whose approval rating is still mired at record lows.
"The president is so unpopular. To inject himself into a presidential campaign does not help John McCain, particularly when McCain is tied to Bush," Zogby said.
The national survey of 516 likely Democratic primary voters had a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points. The poll of the national race between McCain and the two Democratic contenders surveyed 1,076 likely voters with a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
(Editing by Doina Chiacu)
(For more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)
Zogby poll.
Zogby?
I guess its a lock for McCain.
It’s meaningless; ask Presidents Gore and Kerry.
(And I barely tolerate “maverick” McCain; may or may not vote for him.)
It’s not a lock for McCain until Dick Morris predicts an Obama victory.
And remember that “President” Dukakis had a 17 point lead in polls in the summer of ‘88.
I don't care what the polls say, there's probably five percent of all Americans that'll tell the pollster “Yeah, I'll vote for the Negro - ER, black fella.” But when the curtains close and he's in that voting booth by himself, he's going to go the other way.
On top of that, there's plenty of folks who'll say “I'm not voting Republican” today (summer muscle) but when push comes to shove and they really visualize Obama sitting down with Achmadinijad, or standing up to Kim Jong Il, they'll change their minds.
If I was a betting man, I'd be loading up on Insane McCain.
This is Reuters/Zogby. It is a “get out of the race Hillary, Obama can win poll.” It’s target is the superdelegates.
Thought Zogby was the preferred among conservatives...Rush Limbaugh is always using his figures, so is Hannity.
This is a sad showing for a guy who is plastered all over the news in glowing and reverent tones every night.
The pulse I have on America, and this is regardless of how I feel about McCain, he will win at least 40 states against Obama.
I don’t hate him. I just lump him in with the other Liberals.
Zogby used a real person to ask questions, which may skew responses. Rasmussen, who uses electronic polling, has Obama up by 4 when third parties are included.
At this time of the year back in 1988, Dukakis had a 20 point lead over Daddy Bush. So much for early polls.
Zogby Special Sauce - anything to advance the agenda.
Read the phony poll. Bob Barr , is a bitter ex-repub / ACLU mouthpiece is not going to win the Libertarian nod . Barr is not the Libertarian candaidate yet but Zogby has to add him to the special Zogby sauce to get these cooked results ! These phony polls are Obama infomercials and are so sadly slanted and meant to promote OBama on the day after he got slammed in Kentucky to distract the masses for that fact .
OH PA LEASE! Let the Conventions take place,let’s see who the running mates will be and then let’s do an in depth scientific poll.
Most of all, the News Media has become absolutely disgusting.
My first thought as well...
Clinton demolishes Obama in Ky by 35 points and yet he has a 26 pt lead nationally? This is just so much Arab propaganda.
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