envelopeEmail to a friend

Media Views

Washington Post: Economic Fears Give Obama Clear Lead Over McCain in Poll (9/24/08) by Dan Balz & Jon Cohen

Aside from finding a 9-point lead for Barack Obama, the big news here is the sinking support for Sarah Palin. But Balz and Cohen report it this way:

The survey also found that the strong initial public reaction to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain's running mate, has cooled somewhat. Overall, her unfavorable rating has gone up by 10 points in the past two weeks, from 28 percent to 38 percent.

She remains broadly popular—52 percent of voters view her positively—but there have been some notable declines. Over the past two weeks, the percentage of independents with favorable views of Palin dropped from 60 percent to 48 percent. Among independent women, the decline was particularly sharp, going from 65 percent to 43 percent. Her favorable rating among whites... with college degrees... dropped nearly 20 percentage points.


Broadly popular at 52 percent favorability? By that measure every major candidate in the race—Obama, McCain and Biden—is "broadly popular"; Obama and McCain are both quite a bit more popular (61 percent and 59 percent positive, respectively), while Joe Biden has the same positive rating as Palin with lower negatives (32 percent). But media persist in thinking of Palin as the popular one, since that's the impression she made when they first met her.

[More Media Views]

FAIR does not endorse every opinion expressed or vouch for facts presented here, except by ourselves. Send link suggestions to jnaureckas@fair.org.