Following up on #33 - McCain’s numbers also took a hit after he was blamed for blocking the bailout.
The issue is confusing because polls are all over the place. The results change on how you word it. Ask “Do you favor a bailout for Wall Street fat cats?” and get one result. As “Do you favor a financial recovery assistance plan to prevent another Great Depression”, and you get another result. This is how people play games with polls - the wording of questions. Notice that the media rarely reports the wording of the actual poll question.
According to Gallup, the results tilt in favor of the Republican when they poll LVs. If this was a poll of LVs, McCain and Obama would be tied.