Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Initial Verdict: No Gain for Obama from Speech on Race?

As I noted last night, the Gallup daily tracking polls may give us the first clue into whether Obama's speech has been effective in halting the slide in his support since the Jeremiah Wright scandal first broke last week. Well, today's poll is out and so far, it does not look like Obama's speech helped him. Today's figures show Clinton with a 49-42% lead over Obama, which is a 4 point larger gap than existed in yesterday's poll. Support for Obama has dropped from 50% to 42% in the last 5 days while Clinton's support has increased from 44% to 49%.

The Gallup daily report also provides some insight by noting: "Obama's campaign has been plagued by controversial remarks made by his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Obama delivered a major speech on race Tuesday to try to move beyond the controversy. The initial indications are that the speech has not halted Clinton's gaining momentum, as she led by a similar margin in Tuesday night's polling as compared to Monday night's polling."

No comments: