Posted on 09/04/2008 7:05:59 AM PDT by flyfree
Over half of U.S. voters (51%) think reporters are trying to hurt Sarah Palin with their news coverage, and 24% say those stories make them more likely to vote for Republican presidential candidate John McCain in November.
Thirty-nine percent (39%) also believe the GOP vice presidential nominee has better experience to be president of the United States than Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.
But 49% give Obama the edge on experience, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey – taken before Palin’s historic speech Wednesday night to the Republican National Convention.
(Excerpt) Read more at rasmussenreports.com ...
a poll taken BEFORE the historic speech... 2/3 of the people who answered that poll didn’t even know who she was...
GREAT RASMUSSEN, GREAT... THAT’S ULTRA-BIAS INFORMATION...
There’s nothing biased about the information. Rasmussen was completely forthcoming about the timetable (which is how you knew about it) and the speech’s potential impact.
Yes, the poll was taken before Sarah’s speech. There will be a lag between the speech and any impact on poling results. I say give it a full week to digest. We will then get the speech, and then we’ll see how America deals with the backlash from the msm.
However, McCain’s campaign, very well run so far, has it’s work cut out. The focus needs to be:
1. McCain is running against Obama, not Palin
2. McCain/Palin has far more experience and character than Obama/Biden.
3. McCain/Palin offers real change from insider politics, not Obama/Biden.
It’s the change issue that I think trumps the experience issue. McCain’s campaign is, as I said, being run brilliantly. Much as I admire Krauthammer, I think he misses the boat when he says McCain forfeited the experience issue with Palin, and Charles thought experience was the winning issue. I disagree. Hillary Clinton thought the experience issue was the winner, too. She lost. The American people believe our do-nothing government is broken. They want someone to tell them they will fix it. This campaign will be decided by the ticket that offers the most credible promise of that.
With McCain/Palin, you get experience AND change. Packaged properly, as in the wonderful presentation Palin makes, Obama is trumped on all fronts.
This is going to be very interesting.
This is an intentional campaign strategy. Anytime the opposition #1 has to run against your #2, it is exceedingly bad for the #1. He is now trying to justify himself against the VP candidate.
Experience numbers are not surprising since the liberal MSM initiated an all out assault on Gov. Palin’s experience, but gave (and continue to give) Obama a pass. If the liberal MSM would scrutinize and question Obama’s experience even half as much as they did Palin’s, you would see the experience numbers flip flop.
Exactly. After many years of following campaigns, this is a first for me. As abhorrent as the media/liberal attacks on Palin and her family were, it has enabled this campaign tactic. The media and libs are in such fear because they know this scenario is lethal to Obama and they have no idea how to deal with it or Palin right now. Brilliant campaign strategy so far for McCain.
McCain"s goal tonight will be to present the adult, country come together face, leaving no doubt he is the only real POTUS candidate in this election.
I agree. This is a brilliant strategy. The McCain campaign would love to have this discussion all day long. Let them continue to compare the top of their ticket with the bottom of our ticket.
Last night’s polling shows that, by a ten-to-one margin, voters believe reporters are trying to hurt Palin’s campaign rather than help. Republicans and unaffiliated voters strongly believe that a double standard is being applied to Palin because she is a woman. Democrats disagree. Perhaps most stunning is that, among unaffiliated voters, just 42% believe Obama has better experience than Palin to be President. Thirty-seven percent (37%) say Palin has the edge on experience. Again, most of the interviews for this survey were completed before Palin’s well-received speech last night.So is it 42%, or 49%? And is it "10 to 1", or "51%"?
5% Help 51% Hurt 35% Provide unbiased coverage 10% Not sureThus, 10-to-1 Press is hurting vs helping, but 51% vs 40% on hurt vs NOT HURT.
The problem with one part of the poll is that Obama is running for President, Palin for V.P., yet they are continually pairing her and Obama’s experience against each other in these polls. On Fox News last night, Susan Estrich said Palin’s speech was focused too much on Obama, and the Republicans were pitting her experience against his and not Biden’s. Yet in reality, the Democrats and the press have been waging a battle of experience between Obama and Palin since the day she was named as McCain’s running mate. Of course Estrich would say anything to diminish Palin’s speech and her effectiveness to go for the jugular. I think the Dems are very scared, and that is the reason they keep comparing Obama’s credentials against Palin’s. They can’t effectively diminish McCain’s experience by praising Barry’s, so they have to go after Palin’s.
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