Obama vs. McCain: A new poll, Iraq
Posted: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 9:08 AM by Domenico Montanaro
A new Quinnipiac poll shows Obama leading McCain nationally by nine points, 50%-41%. Per a release, “Independent voters split 44%-44%… Sen. McCain has a slight 47%-44% edge among men voters and a larger 49%-42% lead among white voters. But black voters back Sen. Obama 94%-1%, while women support him 55%-36%. Obama leads 63-%-31% percent among voters 18 to 34 years old and 48%-44% among voters 35 to 54, while voters over 55 split with 45% for McCain and 44% for Obama.”
VIDEO: NBC Deputy Political Director Mark Murray discusses the latest opinion polls and Barack Obama's speeches to the NAACP and preceeding his trip to the mideast.Here are some more excerpts from Obama’s foreign policy speech today: “Our men and women in uniform have accomplished every mission we have given them. What’s missing in our debate about Iraq -- what has been missing since before the war began -- is a discussion of the strategic consequences of Iraq and its dominance of our foreign policy. This war distracts us from every threat that we face and so many opportunities we could seize. This war diminishes our security, our standing in the world, our military, our economy, and the resources that we need to confront the challenges of the 21st century. By any measure, our single-minded and open-ended focus on Iraq is not a sound strategy for keeping America safe.”
More: “I am running for President of the United States to lead this country in a new direction -- to seize this moment’s promise. Instead of being distracted from the most pressing threats that we face, I want to overcome them. Instead of pushing the entire burden of our foreign policy on to the brave men and women of our military, I want to use all elements of American power to keep us safe, and prosperous, and free. Instead of alienating ourselves from the world, I want America -- once again -- to lead.”
A new Washington Post/ABC poll on the issue of Iraq has good news and bad news for both candidates. The poll “finds the country split down the middle between those backing Sen. Barack Obama's 16-month timeline for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and those agreeing with Sen. John McCain's position that events, not timetables, should dictate when forces come home… On Iraq policy in general, Americans continue to side with Obama and McCain, his Republican rival, in roughly equal numbers, with 47 percent of those polled saying they trust McCain more to handle the war, and 45 percent having more faith in Obama.”
More: “The poll results suggest that months of Democratic attacks on McCain's Iraq position have not dented voters' basic trust in his ability to lead the country's armed forces: Seventy-two percent said McCain would make a good commander in chief.”
Another day, another DNC Web video targeting McCain. This one contains clips from McCain supporting Bush’s (and Rumsfeld’s) policies on Iraq.
The New York Post on McCain's criticism of Obama's Iraq plan: "McC rips O timetable for 'defeat'"
And: “Obama's campaign scrubbed his presidential Web site over the weekend to remove criticism of the U.S. troop ‘surge’ in Iraq, the [NY] Daily News has learned. The presumed Democratic nominee replaced his Iraq issue Web page, which had described the surge as a ‘problem’ that had barely reduced violence. ‘The surge is not working, Obama's old plan stated, citing a lack of Iraqi political cooperation … Obama's campaign posted a new Iraq plan Sunday night, which cites an ‘improved security situation’ paid for with the blood of U.S. troops since the surge began in February 2007.
