AP poll: Hillary voters’ support for Obama unchanged since her endorsement

posted at 10:59 am on September 23, 2008 by Allahpundit
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In fairness, other polls like Pew and ABC have shown The One making inroads with Clintonites. But let’s not let minor details spoil the mood.

58 percent for Obama among Hillary nuts three months ago, 58 percent for him among Hillary nuts now:

Barack Obama’s support from backers of Hillary Rodham Clinton is stuck smack where it was in June, a poll showed Tuesday, a stunning lack of progress that is weakening him with members of the Democratic Party in the close presidential race…

The problem that supporters of Clinton, the New York senator, have with Obama seems to flow from their measure of him as a candidate, not from issues. From establishing a timeline for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq to abortion to canceling tax cuts on the rich, their views of the importance of issues are virtually identical to Democrats in general.

Yet they find Obama less likable, honest, experienced and inspiring than Democrats overall do, and have a better view of McCain. And while majorities of Clinton supporters say Obama shares their values and understands ordinary Americans, they’re less likely to say so than Democrats overall.

He is viewed more favorably by Hillary supporters now, but then so is McCain. The money data point comes not in the crosstabs, which are largely useless, but in the sidebar graphic accompanying the article. Among all Clintonites the Palin pick is a wash, with 21 percent saying it makes them more likely to vote for McCain versus 21 percent saying less. But when the question’s refined to undecided Clintonites, the needle jumps: Roughly 45 percent say more likely versus only five percent or so who say less. Oddly enough, the AP doesn’t mention that in the article.

A few random data points from the crosstabs. First, is this a commentary on how liberal The One is or a commentary on how little known Ralph Nader’s politics are, even now?

Second, no comment needed:

And finally, I’m loath to interpret this data, but pair it with this past weekend’s AP poll on race (in particular, what it found about Hillary’s supporters) and draw your own conclusions:

Strangest of all, on the head to head question against Obama among four “waves” of respondents sampled, McCain does surprisingly well despite a massive oversampling of Democrats, 12 points more than Republicans for some waves and 14 points more if leaners are included. I assume that’s a product of the post-convention bounce; the poll was conducted from Sept. 5 to 15, which includes the period when Maverick led nationally for awhile. Exit question: Why can’t Hillary convert her PUMAs, especially after the tag-team Clinton performances at the convention? Is it because they know she doesn’t really want to see Obama elected, or is it simply not about Hillary anymore?

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