It shouldn't come as much of a surprise, but John McCain is losing ground within the electorate -- and fast. Rasmussen Reports has the details from their polling of 800 likely voters on Monday and Tuesday (MoE +/- 4.0%) of this past week.
McCain is now viewed favorably by just 52% of American voters. That's down from 56% earlier this month and from 59% in December. His vocal advocacy of increased troop strength in Iraq may be having a negative impact on his popularity. Just one-third of voters (34%) share McCain's view while 56% want to go in the opposite direction and reduce the number of troops in Iraq. However, 94% think the troops will still be fighting in Iraq when the next President takes office.
This poll showed McCain leading Bill Richardson, who is unknown to a plurality of likely voters, but within the margin of error, 43 percent to 39 percent. Rasmussen polling from a week earlier also showed McCain having trouble with a number of Democratic candidates.
Senator John McCain (R), one of the most vocal advocates of sending more troops to Iraq, has lost ground in the Election 2008 sweepstakes. He now trails both John Edwards (D) and Barack Obama (D) in general election match-ups. Prior to this survey, McCain had been ahead of every Democratic challenger in every Rasmussen Reports poll (see summary of general election match-ups).Obama leads McCain 47% to 44%. Edwards also holds a three-point lead, 46% to 43%. A month ago, McCain held a two-point edge over Obama and a five point lead over Edwards.
McCain's support has declined among unaffiliated voters. Obama now leads McCain by an 11-point margin among this important segment of the electorate. Edwards and McCain are essentially even among unaffiliated voters.
These numbers just go to show that the public is paying attention to McCain's cynical games on Iraq, first supporting an unpopular increase in American troops then trying to back away from that exact plan by claiming it is not sufficient. The more Americans learn about John McCain -- particularly now that the media is not giving him a free pass, as they largely did eight years ago -- the less they like him. And given that between 85 percent and 95 percent of Americans know of John McCain and somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 percent of Americans know enough about him to rate him either positively or negatively, the fact that he can't crack 45 percent against most of the leading Democratic candidates for President should have people speaking dismissively of his "electability" -- talk that would be certainly more warranted than the claims that Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama or other particular leading Democrat would not be able to marshall the necessary support to win the presidency in 2008.
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