Polls At Odds Over Obama's Standing With Americans

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS:

One poll says that Obama's connection to Reverend Wright has hurt him, and the other says it detected no change "yet."
Follow this link to the original source: "Flap over pastor pulls Obama down, poll finds"

COMMENTARY:

On May 4, the USA TODAY/Gallup Poll stated unambiguously that Barack Obama's "national standing has been significantly damaged by the controversy of his former pastor."

That same day, the New York Times/CBS News poll results claimed of voters that "the furor over the relationship between Senator Obama and his former pastor has not affected their opinion of Mr. Obama, yet."

Comments made by Reverend Jeremiah Wright years ago and posted on widely viewed Internet sites prompted Barack Obama in March to deliver a major speech in which he distanced himself from his pastor of 20 years. At that time, the candidate pointedly did not "disown" the man who married him and his wife, baptized their two children, and ministered to his family for 20 years. He wanted only to be separated from his once close friend and mentor's inflammatory remarks.

Wright's widely viewed comments included a plea that God would "damn" America, that our nation was responsible for creating the AIDS crisis, and that America's policies had invited the 9/11 attack. In the March speech, after most Americans had been revolted by Wright's excesses, Obama made clear that these were not his views.

But on April 28, Wright was back in front of the microphones. While speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, he not only didn't retract any of his previous statements, he claimed that Obama had walked away from him merely for political reasons. From outrageous attacks on our country, Wright was now sharply criticizing his former parishioner. So Obama took to the microphones again and, this time, he denounced his former close friend. It seems that attacks on the nation can be glossed over, but attacks on him cannot be tolerated and must be challenged.

One poll found that Wright's outbursts had hurt the Illinois senator. The other said it had not detected any falling away of support but qualified its findings with the word "yet." So why should anyone put any value in either poll? When attempting to gauge national sentiment on an issue such as the Wright-Obama relationship, polls are far less likely to measure public sentiment accurately than they do when predicting the outcome of a primary or an election.

Where the New York Times/CBS News poll found no drop off of support for Obama, the very day the newspaper published its front page findings, it also published an op-ed piece claiming the existence of a sharp drop in support for Obama, and that it was clearly traceable to the continuing ruckus created by the incendiary pastor. William Kristol wrote that the reason for the drop in support for Obama and boost for Hillary Clinton "is surely that Hillary Clinton didn't have as her pastor for 20 years the Rev. Jeremiah Wright."

What all of this suggests is that there is little difference between the two Democrat contenders — except for Wright. Both candidates are far leftists who deserve repudiation by anyone who believes government is not the answer to virtually every problem.