McCain vs. Obama: Lots of pre-convo polls
Posted: Sunday, August 24, 2008 10:42 AM by Domenico Montanaro
A new Washington Post/ABC poll has Obama leading McCain by six points nationally among registered voters (49%-43%) and four points among likely voters (49%-45%). “The focus on foreign policy crises over the past month, including the Russian invasion of Georgia, has played to McCain's perceived strengths among the electorate. He holds 2 to 1 leads over Obama in the new poll as the candidate with better knowledge of world affairs and the one who would make a better commander in chief. He is also regarded as superior to Obama in combating international terrorism and has a slender advantage on international affairs generally… But on the question of who is better equipped to deal with specific foreign policy problems, McCain's advantages are less apparent. Voters rate McCain and Obama evenly on handling the situation in Iraq, and McCain has a negligible advantage in dealing with U.S. relations with Russia.”
Other nuggets: “Obama's selection of Biden is unlikely to shake up the race in the short term. Three-quarters of registered voters said Obama's choice of Biden … would not sway their votes in either direction. And among those who said the selection would make a difference, about as many said they were more likely to support Obama with Biden on the ticket as said they would be less likely to do so.”
And: 70% of Hillary Clinton supporters “back Obama -- the highest level since she suspended her campaign in June.”
And here are the new state polls we mentioned above:
ARIZONA: McCain leads 47%-41%.
COLORADO: Obama leads 46%-43%.
NEVADA: McCain leads 46%-39%.
NEW MEXICO: McCain leads 45%-41%.
UTAH/WYOMING: McCain, as expected, leads by wide margins in both states -- up 62%-23% in Utah and 62%-25% in Wyoming.
Meanwhile, a new Quinnipiac poll shows McCain up one point in Colorado, 47%-46%. In July, McCain was up two points in the state, 46%-44%.