Final Fox News poll: Obama 50, McCain 43

posted at 4:49 pm on November 3, 2008 by Allahpundit
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Their last one went 47/44 but that was based on an oddball sample of 41 percent Democrats and 39 percent Republicans. This one’s back to 42 percent Dem and 36 percent GOP. Hence the spread.

The whole election in one table:

Iraq now ranks lower than taxes. Speaking of which, here’s what Maverick’s gotten from weeks’ worth of hammering The One with talking points about Joe the Plumber and redistribution. The columns represent Obama and McCain, respectively. The question: Which candidate do you trust more to handle the issue?

I don’t know how to explain the trend since September except to guess that the “socialism” gambit backfired by focusing attention on Obama’s tax plan and his ever-shifting promise of cuts for the middle class. Another question, possibly germane to this one, asked if Obama’s views are too liberal or about right. Last week’s breakdown: 43/50. This week’s: 40/53. Whether that’s an artifact of the sample or proof that my read on the taxes question is right, I don’t know.

Now for a little good news:

No enthusiasm gap so far, although the greater absolute number of Democrats means Obama’s banked more votes. Hopefully McCain makes it up among undecideds, most of whom probably aren’t joining the cult now if they haven’t joined already.

Finally, this:

In hindsight, I wonder why Team Maverick didn’t follow the Obama playbook and roll Palin out as a post-partisan candidate instead of as the hero of the base. Her social con credentials and Jacksonian appeal are impeccable; she could have gone out there, stumped to McCain’s left, and the grassroots wouldn’t have loved her an iota less. The One relies on that same phenomenon among the left to give him cover when he goes around praising the Second Amendment, calling for more troops in Afghanistan, and opposing gay marriage: Centrists eat it up and the left looks the other way because, when push comes to shove, they don’t really believe he’s sincere. Conceivably, the McCain camp could have packaged Palin similarly, relying on the fact that she’s worked with Democrats in Alaska to make bipartisanship her core talking point instead of the daily attacks on Obama. It would have disarmed the media (to some extent) and helped with independents, women included/especially. What might have been.

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