Zogby: Obama Leads GOP Candidates (McCain, Huck ib dead heat, Mitt, Fred and Rudy get creamed)

Zogby ^ | 12/20/08

[meandog]

Zogby Poll: Obama Leads Top Republicans

Telephone survey shows fellow Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Edwards would defeat some GOPers, lose to others

UTICA, New York - Illinois Sen. Barack Obama would defeat all five of the top Republicans in prospective general election contests, performing better than either of his two top rivals, a new Zogby telephone poll shows.

His margins of advantage range from a 4 percent edge over Arizona Sen. John McCain and a 5 percent edge over Arkansas’ Mike Huckabee to an 18 percentage point lead over Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, the survey shows. Against New York’s Rudy Giuliani he leads by 9%, and against Fred Thompson of Tennessee he holds a 16 point edge.

The telephone survey included 1,000 likely voters nationwide and carries a margin of error of +/– 3.2 percentage points. The poll was conducted Dec. 12–14, 2007.

Democrat Hillary Clinton of New York would defeat Romney by a narrow 46% to 44% margin and Thompson by a 48% to 42% margin. She would lose to Huckabee 48% to 43%, to Giuliani 46% to 42%, and to McCain by a 49% to 42% margin. The data suggest that Clinton has improved her position slightly. A November Zogby Interactive poll showed her losing by small margins to all five of the top GOP candidates.

[longtermmemmory]

Obama is the accidental senator.

He was being creamed by the Republican until his actress wife hottie (seven of nine) revealed their sex club romps.

I doubt he would be able to sustain a true race. Right now he is coasting on anti-hillary and edwards incompetence.

[meandog]

I am sorry I have met Webb & have had the displeasure of having to work with him during those Reagan years. Webb is fundamentally a jack-ass ! He has a chip on his shoulder a mile high. I was picked to work with him on a DOD project back in those RR years even though I was quite young and new to the DOD world. It was felt since I come from the red-neck Appalachian world that Webb is so proud of, even though a mere youth (Then!) perhaps I could communicate with him !(I couldn’t !) He tolerates NO disagreement even when the matter at hand is something that he has no education, training or experience in. In fact he acts if his ignorance of a subject endows himself with a special insight! He was a flop as a Navy Sec mainly because he couldn’t & wouldn’t work with anyone. (So it wasn’t just me!) We are seeing similar displays of his childish petulance here in the Senate as our Va senator. Of course since its so hard to actually measure success in a legislative job, Webb will probably be there forever. All a Senator has to do to be judged "successful" is posture & draw attention to himself, skills Webb has in abundance.

I don't still know a whole lot about him (I did meet him during the campaign) but I do know that he put his a$$ on the line once for his country, something his opponent in the last Va. Senate race didn't do...his son also is currently a Marine.
If someone such as former CJCS Peter Pace were to run against him, I'd vote for him. However, it seems that the Republican party in Virginia always manages to pick milquetoast candidates (Gilmore, Allen) then wonder why they end up getting beat.

[phillyfanatic]

I am sorry but right now, I do not buy this result. Obama beating all 5 guys? Not a chance. Just what red states does he win? Not the South. And depending on the nominee, one or two blue states could be put in play by Rudy, John or Mitt.

[Wilum]

Yes, John, like most Lebanese in the Utica area is a Maronite Catholic.

I knew John well when he started his business and I must divulge I am one of the part takers in his interactive poles and have been for a couple of years now. How they decipher the answers, I have no idea, but they are fun to take. I'm not standing up for John as I have not seen him in years but I am a little less cynical than most here.

[Cicero]

There was a time when everyone on FR thought that Zogby was the best pollster around. But that kind of fell apart as he appeared to cook his books for Al Gore. And it seems to me, although it’s only my personal impression, that things got worse in his polls after 9/11.

I suspect it’s a tough business, because they have to keep people happy about their accuracy, but they also have to please the press—which is biased—and/or sell their products to politicians.

In any case, I think most conservatives are not happy with him—or, of course, with most other pollsters these days.

[Reily]

You know there are a whole of decent conservatives who were never in the military. Having military service in ones background does not give one permanent pass for all other aspects of life! In regard to your comment about Webb putting his ass on the line. My father a former WW II marine put it best when I made a similar comment. Quoting my Dad, “Some of the best Marines I ever knew were some of the worst people & some of the best people I ever knew were terrible Marines and so you won’t think there is a trend, there were fantastic people were also good Marines!”. Clearly his point was, look at the whole person and look at what he does with his behavior and his life during and after service. (Interestingly enough one of the “Band-of Brothers” makes a similar in an interview during the series.) To me, my personal snapshot of Webb is one data point and could be wrong, but given Webb’s subsequent public behavior since then, I think not. After he left the Reagan administration he continued to make criticisms about DOD issues he didn’t like. Some of his criticisms had some justification, but they were always said in a spirit of arrogant pettiness that showed me the man I met was still the same guy. Look at the nasty campaign he ran against his democrat opponent complete with campaign cartoons that highlighted in vile manner his opponent’s Jewish background. Do you really believe that Allen’s Jewish background being outed in the manner that it was, was an accident? Then look at his boorish behavior in the White House and his splendid display of leadership when his aide got caught with the pistol. All in all this tells me he is the same jerk that I meet back in the RR years. I view Webb’s suddent political epiphany as more an example of his arrogance and shameless opportunism then anything to do with principles! Unfortunately a lot of Virginians fell for it. (Webb as a “leader” reminds me of Braxton Bragg!) Allen was actually a pretty good governor of Va and I thought of him as a decent Senator also. (I will grant you Gilmore was pretty average.) I really don’t understand your “milquetoast” comment! All I require from my candidates are that they try to govern and legislate to conservative principles. I don’t require them to entertain me!

[meandog]

Allen was actually a pretty good governor of Va and I thought of him as a decent Senator also. (I will grant you Gilmore was pretty average.) I really don’t understand your “milquetoast” comment! All I require from my candidates are that they try to govern and legislate to conservative principles. I don’t require them to entertain me!

I give Allen a B as governor and a D+ as Senator...the reason he doesn't get an A when he was governor is that he inherited (and I hate to admit it) a pretty good fiscal state from ) L. Douglas Wilder. Wilder, if you remember, barely got into the statehouse as the Old Dominion's first black governor. In a large way that was fortunate because the House of Delegates and Senate were in the hands of the Republicans, so he had to forge compromises. And, as a result, there were a lot of things that he got done--the state lottery, the restoration of a Triple A credit rating, plus there were plenty of improvements made on the state's roads. Allen, to his credit, carried on much of what was left to him but also, truth be told, claimed credit for some of what Wilder left him. Gilmore, OTOH, was a bust and left our state parks reeling and our credit rating raided.
As a senator, Allen was mostly a rubberstamp. I really cannot remember one piece of legislation that he sponsored. I hear a lot here at FR about RINOs--with John Warner, like McCain, listed as a major one. However, I have a ton of respect for Sen. Warner. He has responded everytime I needed helped with something. I am going to be sad to see him retire.

[airborne]

Served with Zogby’s “special sauce”!

[Reily]

I have zero respect for Warner.
He is a prime example of what is wrong with the Senate!
His sabotaging of North was inexcusable. I was not a big fan of North (I preferred Reagan’s budget director Miller!) However the party picked North, Warner had an obligation as a Republican to honor that.
I think you are a bit harsh on Allen, he was only basically there one term. He was still in legislative parlance a back bencher. Only time would really tell how good a Senator Allen would have been.
I agree with you on Wilder, he was something of a pleasant surprise. Webb will be all about Webb, I take a grade B Senator anytime over that!