Poll: Obama Pulls Even With McCain Among Whites In New York
This is a bit suggestive: A new Quinnipiac poll finds that Obama has rapidly pulled even among white voters with McCain in New York in the wake of Hillary's withdrawal from the race, and is now swamping McCain among overall New Yorkers by a double digit margin, 50%-36%.
New York is obviously among the bluest of blue states. But in an April Q-poll, Obama was losing to McCain among whites by 10 points (48%-38%). Now he has 42% of whites to McCain's 43%. That's not bad movement -- and Obama's movement among whites will of course be a key metric to watch.
The poll -- which surveyed 1,388 voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points --- also found that more New York voters say Hillary should not be made Veep (48%-42%). But a majority of New York Dems favor the idea (53%-35%).
OMG! An Obama/McCain post! Hallelujah!
This "white" voter meme is getting really old, particularly in NY. There's no way the Dems are going to lose NY, even if NYC were to become the 51st state, so hand wringing about "white" voters is a bit overwrought.
What's really interesting is how Obama is doing with upstate voters, where the Republicans and independents live. He seems to be making good inroads there and it will be interesting to mark his progress.
June 11, 2008 8:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
did anyone hear what McCain said on Today, something about bringing the troops home is "not to important"
http://thepage.time.com/2008/06/11/on-wednesdays-morning-shows/
June 11, 2008 8:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
I heard that, and I hope Obama hits him hard on this.
June 11, 2008 8:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think it was pretty obvious that Obama's poll totals were deflated by the responses of many Hillary voters. Except for some extreme die-hards or racists, I can't see anybody who supports Senator Clinton's agenda backing McCain.
With $4.00 a gallon gas, inflation and rising unemployment, McCain is going to get stuck at 44%. As long as Obama works as hard in the summer and fall as he did in the winter and spring, we'll be seeing a Democrat in the White House in January.
June 11, 2008 8:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
Obama has no white vote disadvantage in Oregon, Wisconsin, Iowa, Vermont, Colorado and all those other states the press conveniently forgets when discussing his so-called white problem.
June 11, 2008 8:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
Don't forget, over the course of the primary, Obama's "white problem" morphed into a "working class white problem" which further morphed into a "uneducated working class white problem" and so on and so on before finally settling into an "Appalachia problem."
Of course, it was all really just a bigot problem.
To paraphrase David Rees, Obama has had problems connecting with those who'd like to murder him.
June 11, 2008 8:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well-said, Lamont, as always. :)
It will be nice to see more polls coming out, providing the numbers to back up what we already know - Obama does not have a problem winning White voters. The Appalachia problem? Yeah, but that's another issue...
June 11, 2008 9:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
Bingo!
June 11, 2008 9:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
Which all means,Lemont, that in effect this morphing did not just end there but has continued with John McCain. Indeed we have seen him start off as McCain, morphing into McLame, then McSame, then McBush.Im sure we will see the final morphing into MCLose in November. Watch this space!
NB: Did anyone else notice how Greg managed to shoehorn the name Hillary in an Obama/McCain post
June 11, 2008 9:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
I noticed, but I don't think picking at scabs is a productive activity.
June 11, 2008 9:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
Fantastic post to start my morning.....thanks.
June 11, 2008 9:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
I have noticed a lot of Obama yard signs here in rural upstate New York. So far, only one lonely McCain sign, next to a disused RV in one driveway. I believe there are a couple of yard gnomes there as well.
June 11, 2008 9:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with all the preceding observations. The constant breaking down of these polls in white v. african-american further perpetuates the myth that obama has a "white problem." Every time a poll comes out, that's the first thing that pundits and commentators look at and then they cherry pick the results to support their arguments either for or against.
Also, my guess is that after the clinton stuff dies down, obama's "white" count will go up. Kind of sounds like a medical discussion when you think about it. Just like his "hispanic" problem that you don't hear about anymore. He is drawing 2/3rd's of hispanics in national polling, more than kerry, when he allegedly had this big problem. It's all a bunch of bs.
June 11, 2008 9:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
Last time I checked, white people's votes didn't count more than other votes. So who gives a shite? Obama's winning New York and in November, he'll win the nation, God willing, by getting a majority of everyone's votes.
June 11, 2008 9:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
Woohoo! Yay for New Yorkers who realize a bad idea when they see one! No nightmare ticket!! I wonder what their favorite reason is, I know I have many:
http://www.thepersonalispolitical.com/2008/06/why-no-nightmare-ticket-lets-count.html
June 11, 2008 9:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
I like to refer to it as the "Bad Dream" Ticket myself.
June 11, 2008 9:38 AM | Reply | Permalink