Rothenberg Report: It’s Over
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, McCain
Not only that, it was over about a month ago…
The presidential race has been a foregone conclusion since shortly after the nation’s financial crisis exploded in the news a little more than a month ago. The virtual elimination of national security as a top issue, combined with Obama’s coolness in the face of the public’s near hysteria, helped him close a deal that he previously had not closed.Polling for the past few weeks has shown voters increasingly comfortable with the Illinois Democrat, giving him better and better reviews on a number of issues and characteristics. His favorability rating (56 percent positive/35 percent negative) in the Nov. 1-2 NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll is better than Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.), and the two men are even on the question of who “has a background and a set of values that you can identify with†— down from a 10-point McCain advantage in August and a 6-point McCain advantage in the Sept. 19-22 poll.
Even more important, now a majority of whites, 51 percent, say Obama has the background and values with which they can identify. Reputable national polls have shown Obama lengthening his lead, and the polls’ internals show why that is happening.
One of the most impressive things the Obama campaign has done was find a way to 270 without Ohio or Florida. Nobody would have thought that possible before this year, and certainly not the Clinton campaign. Because there’s no doubt they would have been fighting hard for both states if Hillary was the nominee, but Obama only attempted to keep them close so McCain has to continue to waste resources.
In short, the Democrats picked the right candidate and now the electoral map is set to change in ways they never thought possible.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Barack, McCain. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
November 4th, 2008 at 9:13 am
[...] Rothenberg Report: It’s Over [...]