Far more voters say McCain has the right experience to be president, the poll found.
As the candidate running hardest on the platform of experience, Clinton was seen by a wide margin (61 percent to 22 percent) as the candidate possessing that quality.
What the press isn’t telling you is that in the very same poll where they’re hyping the “experience” advantage, that edge doesn’t translate into a lead for John McCain. So while the media keeps acting as if “experience” is the #1 issue for people, the poll and the people seem to say otherwise.
But like I said, we saw this show before. Sen. Obama knows how it ended. As does Sen. Clinton.
That poll was reported on March 7th. Total # of delegates won AFTER the poll (includes WY, MS, PA, Guam, IN, NC, WV, KY, OR, PR, MT, SD):
Obama: 288
Clinton: 323
Total number of delegates won (Clinton led Obama on the experience question through the whole process):
Obama: 2,201 (1,763 pledged)
Clinton: 1,896 (1,640 pledged)
McCain’s experience is as a Washington insider with a campaign run by lobbyists and a history of doing favors for them. I’m not sure that translates as a good thing.
Obama has more experience than Lincoln had when he ran for Prez. Less than Nixon or Hoover.
Oliver, what an excellent comparison. Thanks.
The difference is that Obama can’t bank early electoral victories and then play defense for 3 months. The only ballots that count are cast in November. And Obama hasn’t exactly shown a great closing kick.
And ed, if you’re of the opinion that the scope and responsibilities of the Office of the President haven’t changed in 150 years, that might be a relevant point.
And ed, if you’re of the opinion that the scope and responsibilities of the Office of the President haven’t changed in 150 years, that might be a relevant point.
He had more experience than George W. Bush. Has the scope of the Office of the President changed significantly in the past 8 years?
Yes, McCain has a whole lot of experience. Too bad he doesn’t have a whole lot of good judgment to go along with that experience.
You know, in our own bit of ironic nonsense, the people with the most experience in the actual job are the ones expressly forbidden from ever holding it again.
Obama has as much experience being President as McCain does, which is to say, none at all.
Shorter SaveFarris: Nixon and Hoover were awesome Presidents! And McCain’s gonna be every bit as awesome!!
And Obama hasn’t exactly shown a great closing kick.
And yet, he won. Funny how that operates.
And I would take the corpse of Abraham Lincoln over Bush/McCain.
Yes, he won the Dem nomination, limping badly across the finish line.
The more that people learn about Obama the less likely they are to vote for him.
In fact neither has executive experience, so the question is a wash. To claim otherwise, as far as I can tell, reveals an ignorance of the workings of government. Each has more than enough legislative experience to understand the workings of that branch, and how it interacts and sometimes overlaps with that of the executive. Beyond a certain point no more time will produce any more expertise relevant to the jump between branches. As Spider pointed out earlier, they have equal experience as executives.
And ed, if you’re of the opinion that the scope and responsibilities of the Office of the President haven’t changed in 150 years, that might be a relevant point.
You really don’t think that the near-universally recognized best president in history was not very experienced renders the question somewhat moot? Sure the office has expanded since then, but President Lincoln faced arguably tougher problems than anything faced by just about anybody since (save FDR), including the current president.
FDR, by the by, had just two years’ more government experience than Obama when he took office, and most of that was as Assistant Secretary to the Navy, not traditionally touted as being a stepping stone to the Presidency.
And I would take the corpse of Abraham Lincoln over Bush/McCain.
You and me both my friend. You and me both. But since Zombie Lincoln isn’t running (nor Zombie Reagan for that matter), we have to make do with the choices we have.
FDR, by the by, had just two years’ more government experience than Obama when he took office, and most of that was as Assistant Secretary to the Navy, not traditionally touted as being a stepping stone to the Presidency.
He also served as Governor of one of the largest states in the country for 4 years, so he had some executive experience to go along with being a state senator and Asst. Secretary of the Navy.
Poll shows McCain in 5-point lead over Obama
Start the dissection of this poll, but the trend here is definitely not favorable to Obama.
Absolutely no way on God’s green earth this should be happening. Not now.
He hasn’t even been caught in anything similar to the embarrassing gaffes Kerry had been at this time four years ago.
I don’t know who ends up winning this, but it won’t be anything like the Obama-Clinton show.
And speaking of the Obama-Clinton show, recent polls may force his hand now to pick her as his running mate. He’s hemorrhaging right now- he needs a game-changer.
Hemorrhaging? Please give me a break.
This is the same Zogby who had Obama winning California vs. Clinton by 10, right? Yeah. The same.
Hey oliver
If Obama loses will you cry in a fetal position?
If Obama loses will you cry in a fetal position?
Considering what 4 more years of McBush will give America, I wouldn’t blame him.
Hey Vik, if McCain loses will it be the pills or the shotgun?
So … you’re saying that Zogby artificially inflates Obama’s numbers and he’s STILL down 5 in the latest poll? Yipes!
I think Oliver is saying only that Zogby is consistently wrong, not that they “inflate Obama’s numbers”.
I know that FDR was governor of New York, just as I know that McCain has never been governor of anything. The experience argument remains full of holes.
The more that people learn about Obama the less likely they are to vote for him.
The same can be said about John Sydney McCain III.