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Poll Finds G.O.P. Field Isn’t
Touching Voters
ADAM NAGOURNEY and MEGAN THEE
NY
Times
Tuesday December 11, 2007
Three weeks before the Iowa caucuses, Republican
voters across the country appear uninspired by their field of
presidential candidates, with a vast majority saying they have
not made a final decision about whom to support, according to
the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.
Not one of the Republican candidates is viewed favorably by even
half the Republican electorate, the poll found. And in a sign
of the fluidity of the race, former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas,
who barely registered in early polls several months ago, is now
locked in a tight contest nationally with Rudolph W. Giuliani
and Mitt Romney.
By contrast, Democrats are happier with their field and more
settled in their decisions. For all the problems Senator Hillary
Rodham Clinton appears to be having holding off her rivals in
Iowa and New Hampshire, she remains strong nationally, the poll
found. Even after what her aides acknowledge have been two of
the roughest months of her candidacy, she is viewed by Democrats
as a far more electable presidential nominee than either Senator
Barack Obama or John Edwards.
(Article continues below)
Not only do substantially more Democratic voters judge her to
be ready for the presidency than believe Mr. Obama is prepared
for the job, the poll found, but more Democrats also see Mrs.
Clinton rather than Mr. Obama as someone who can unite the country.
The Republican and Democratic nominating contests, which begin
with the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3, are approaching at a time of
anxiety and uncertainty. Americans, the poll found, think the
economy is bad and getting worse. A vast majority think the country
is heading in the wrong direction. More people cite the Iraq war
as the most important issue facing the country than cite any other
matter, and though 38 percent say the dispatch of extra troops
to Iraq this year is working, a majority continue to say that
undertaking the war was a mistake.
The candidates are running against a backdrop of a decidedly
negative view of Washington. At 21 percent, the approval rating
for this Democratic-led Congress is at a new low, reflecting the
defection of independent voters, a potentially worrisome development
for Democrats going into next year’s Congressional elections.
President Bush’s approval rating is at 28 percent, one point
above the lowest of his tenure.
Full
article here.
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INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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