McCain now enjoys head-to-head advantage against Clinton
by WonkoKevin
A bit of a slow news day; Wonkosphere blog posts are down about 75% over the last 24 hours. In one of the more interesting tidbits, Rasmussen reports that in head-to-head preference polls, John McCain beats Hillary Clinton 49% to 43%. This is by far the largest margin he has enjoyed over Clinton since Rasmussen began the poll several months ago, and McCain continues to fair better against Clinton than any of the other Republican candidates. The same poll also indicated Clinton over Mike Huckabee 47% to 43%.Some more from the poll…
The Senator from Arizona is currently viewed favorably by 55% of the nation’s voters. That’s the most positive rating of any Presidential candidate in either party… McCain also has the lowest level of core opposition among the leading candidates—just 33% of voters say they will definitely vote against him if he is on the ballot. As noted in a recent analysis, it’s a good time to be John McCain, He has increased his support in Iowa and is within a few points of the lead in New Hampshire.
Clinton has the highest level of core opposition—47% say they will definitely vote against her if she wins the nomination. She is viewed favorably by 45%. The Senator from New York continues to lead all Democrats nationally in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll. However, the race for the Democratic nomination is very close in the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.
Forty-two percent (42%) of voters nationwide have a favorable opinion of Huckabee while 42% have an unfavorable view.McCain is viewed as politically conservative by 31% of voters and moderate by 45%. That positions him near the nation’s political center. Huckabee is seen as being to the right of McCain—43% say the former Arkansas Governor is politically conservative and just 24% see him as moderate. Clinton is viewed to the left of McCain—54% see her as politically liberal while 31% see her as moderate.Democrats see little ideological difference between their leading Presidential candidates. However, Republican voters see a wide gap between their candidates. At one extreme, just 21% see Rudy Giuliani as politically conservative. At the other end, 50% see Fred Thompson as politically conservative. An earlier survey found that 41% of American voters say they are conservative when it comes to “fiscal issues such as taxes, government spending, and business regulation” while 37% say they are conservative when it comes to “social issues like abortion, public prayer, and church-state topics.” Overall, 24% Are Both Fiscal and Socially Conservatives, 9% Fiscally and Socially Liberal.
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