WASHINGTON (AP) - The prolonged personal battle between Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama has allowed Republican John McCain to pull even as he snatches away disgruntled independent and even some Democratic swing voters. An Associated Press-Yahoo poll released Thursday also revealed what could be especially difficult news for Clinton, who is trailing Obama in delegates and needs to win Tuesday's critical Pennsylvania primary by a large margin to stay in the race. The survey showed nationwide opinions of Clinton have soured slightly since late last year, while views of Obama have improved, though less impressively than McCain's results. The findings could intensify pressure from inside the Democratic Party for Clinton to leave the race unless she far outpaces Obama next week. A recent poll showed her with an advantage of just 6 points after leading by double digits a month ago. Obama holds what appears to be an insurmountable 1,645-1,504 lead in delegates, with just 10 primary and caucus contests remaining after Pennsylvania voters divvy up the state's 158-member delegation to the national convention in late August. According to the AP-Yahoo survey of Republican and Democratic voters, McCain is viewed as increasingly likable and no longer the underdog in a hypothetical matchup with either Clinton or Obama in November. Possible reasons for the shift toward McCain were evident Wednesday night as front-runner Obama and Clinton spent precious television debate minutes squabbling over their past associations or campaign miscues rather than exploring their policy differences, which are few. At a rally in the May 6 primary state of North Carolina on Thursday, Obama lashed out, saying time was wasted on "gotcha" issues. "Last night I think we set a new record because it took us 45 minutes before we even started talking about a single issue that matters to the American people," Obama told the North Carolina crowd. "Forty-five minutes before we heard about health care, 45 minutes before we heard about Iraq, 45 minutes before we heard about jobs, 45 minutes before we heard about gas prices." The Obama campaign, whose supporters were most angered by aggressive questions in the debate, quickly sent out a fundraising appeal Thursday titled, "Gotcha." The liberal advocacy group MoveOn said it would run an ad protesting ABC if 100,000 people signed their petition. "The questions were tough and fair and appropriate and relevant," one of the moderators, George Stephanopoulos told The Associated Press. "We wanted to focus at first on the issues that were not focused on during the last debates." Five months ago - before either party had winnowed its field - the AP-Yahoo survey showed people preferred sending an unnamed Democrat over a Republican to the White House by 13 percentage points, 40-27. Now, McCain gets about 10 percentage points more than the generic Republican got, while Obama and Clinton each get about 5 points less than last fall's nameless Democrat, meaning McCain has a slight lead at 37-35, within the poll's 2.3 percentage-points overall margin of error. While troubling news for Democrats, the results of the poll were particularly ominous for Clinton because they showed her support slumping even as Obama is on the rise, if only slightly. The poll appeared to indicate that Clinton's negative campaigning has hurt her overall with voters. By tracking the same group of roughly 2,000 people throughout the campaign, the AP-Yahoo poll can gauge how individual views are evolving. More than one in 10 who were not backing the unnamed Republican candidate last November are now supporting McCain, a shift partly offset by a smaller number moving toward Obama or Clinton. Of those now backing McCain, about one-third did not support the generic Republican candidate last November. "It's not that I'm that much in favor of McCain, it's the other two are turning me off," said David Mason, 46, of Richmond, Virginia, an independent who voted for Bush in 2004 but is disappointed with him over the war in Iraq. As for McCain's experiences as a Vietnam War prisoner and in the Senate, Mason said, "All he's been through is an asset." Overall, 54 percent now view the Democratic Party favorably while 42 percent say so about the Republicans, reflecting wide displeasure with Bush, the shaky economy and Iraq. That could work in favor of Obama or Clinton once one becomes the nominee and voters begin to focus more on issues and partisan differences. In November about 40 percent of those surveyed considered McCain likable, decisive, strong and honest. That number is now about 50 percent. Obama is seen as more likable and stronger now, but his numbers for honesty and decisiveness have remained flat, while Clinton's scores for likeability and honesty have dropped slightly. Republican pollster David Winston said McCain's strong performance against Obama and Clinton despite voters' preference for an unnamed Democratic candidate means Democrats have an advantage their candidates are not exploiting. Democratic pollster Alan Secrest said the contrasting numbers mean that while the voters' overall mood favors Democrats, they are still taking the measure of Clinton and Obama. "The Democrats will have to earn their way this fall," he said. The AP-Yahoo survey of 1,844 adults was conducted from April 2-14 and had an overall margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points. Included were interviews with 863 Democrats, for whom the margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3.3 points, and 668 Republicans, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.8 points. The poll was conducted over the Internet by Knowledge Networks, which initially contacted people using traditional telephone polling methods and followed with online interviews. People chosen for the study who had no Internet access were given it for free. AP writers Alan Fram and Trevor Thompson as well as survey specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report. http://news.aol.com/story/_a/ap-yahoo-poll-shows-mccain-pulls-even-as/n20080418011609990001 This is what I've been saying for the last month
I don't look at this as such bad news for the Dems because the fact is McCain has already got his boost from becoming the nominee while Obama has not. Obama is sure to receive a significant boost in the polls once Hillary supporters realize it's either Obama or 4 more years of George W. Bush (which is what McCain is.) Also I don't think these polls are taking into account the excitement of the Obama campaign, the huge voter turnouts, and all of the newly registered young voters that will be voting Obama by wide margins. PLUS, you must remember that Obama has a HUGE fund raising advantage over McCain - he will certainly make use of all of that extra money in the general.
What happens if Hilliary gets elected the nominee, would those newly registered young voters for for her or would they stay home. Right now around 30% of of democrat voters supporting one of the nominees said they wouldn't vote for the other person. As I've said before the longer this drags on the better it is for McCain because if gives the Democrat candidate less them to go around and heal old wounds.
I would rather have my pet cat elected then seeing another 100 years of iraqi occupation, but i think it looks like the elite want their cake and they want to eat it too. Insane maccain it is lol.
I don't think that McCain meant 100 years in the current form. But if you take a look at how our troops are stationed around the world. over 60 years later and we still have troops in Germany. 50 Years after the Korean war will still have 30,000 troops there.
I don't worry so much about this stuff because I am pretty much 100% certain Hillary is going to win.
Cats just aren't president material. All they want to do is sleep, and are too easily distracted by catnip, string, and shiny objects.
Chance are you will NEVER see 100 years of Iraqi occupation. You won't be alive. Also the Presidency is only for 4 years.
She won't. Obama has already won. It is impossible for Hillary to catch Obama in pledged delegates. The only reason this is going on is because the media wants it to & because Hillary is so desperate to win she's trying to take Obama down. ... ie the only way she "wins" is to kneecap Obama and have the superdelegates hand her the nomination. I will say in the slim chance that happens - all predictions go out the window. It will be insanity.
Obama can't win the 2000 something delegates either to get the nomination. He has the lead but won't be able to cross that 2142 delegates I believe.