There are some new polls out today. Some dealing with the general election, some dealing with national security. Admittedly, these don’t actually mean anything given how far out we are, but they are fun. That’s why we do this, isn’t it, for the fun? Maybe I’m just weird.
John McCain’s positive numbers are the highest that they’ve been in eight years.
PRINCETON, NJ — John McCain’s 67% favorable rating is the highest of any of the three major candidates running for president, and ties for his highest in Gallup polling history.
Illinois Sen. Barack Obama’s favorable rating is now at 62%, by one point the highest Gallup has recorded for Obama since the first reading in December 2006 (at which point almost half of Americans did not know enough about him to give him a rating). Obama’s ratings have been fairly stable in recent months, ranging between only 58% and 61% across five Gallup Polls conducted since January.
Hillary Clinton’s favorable rating, 53%, is significantly lower than those of the other two candidates, in part no doubt because of her long history in the public eye, including eight years as first lady in her husband’s administration. Still, this is Clinton’s highest favorable rating since October of last year. [...]
One reason for the higher favorable ratings McCain and Obama enjoy is their cross-appeal to Americans who identify with the “other” party.
McCain gets an extraordinarily high 52% favorable from Democrats and independents who lean Democratic, while Obama gets a 39% favorable rating from Republicans and Republican leaners. Clinton, on the other hand, receives only a 20% favorable rating from Republicans and Republican leaners.
McCain is also helped by the fact that he receives an 87% favorable rating from Republicans, higher than the 80% and 79% that Clinton and Obama, respectively, currently receive from Democrats.
(via Hot Air) A USA Today poll shows that a majority of Democrats won’t be satisfied with the Clinton plan to win the nomination with super delegates.
By 55%-37%, Democrats and independents who “lean” Democratic say an outcome in which Clinton lost among pledged delegates but prevailed with the help of super delegates would be “flawed” and unfair” — including 77% of Obama supporters and 28% of Clinton supporters.
It gets better than that. Allah’s graphic (which I won’t lift) shows that 11% of Democrats would vote for ‘A Republican’ if Hillary steals it. There’s something juicy to sink your teeth into.
And if that wasn’t enough good news for you, an ABC News poll of Iraqis (PDF) shows that they are quite a bit better off now than they were previously. ABC News credits the security and economic gains.
Fifty-five percent of Iraqis say things in their own lives are going well, well up from 39 percent as recently as August. More, 62 percent, rate local security positively, up 19 points. And the number who expect conditions nationally to improve in the year ahead has doubled, to 46 percent in this new national poll by ABC News, the BBC, ARD German TV and the Japanese broadcaster NHK.
Without directly crediting the surge in U.S. forces, fewer report security as the main problem in their own lives – 25 percent, nearly half its peak last spring. Forty-six percent say local security has improved in the past six months, nearly double last summer’s level. The number of Iraqis who feel entirely unsafe in their own area has dropped by twothirds, to 10 percent. And with Sunni Arab buy-in, U.S.-funded Awakening Councils, created to provide local security, are more popular than the Iraqi government itself.
I’ll give you a hint: it’s the surge. No matter your political affiliation, more secure Iraqis makes for some good progress.
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