by Katie Fretland
With the support of women and black voters, Sen. Barack Obama gained a nine-point lead over Sen. John McCain in a national poll just released by Quinnipiac University.
The July poll of 1,725 likely voters showed a 50 to 41 percent advantage for Obama. White voters favored Mccain, while men and independents were divided about evenly between the presidential candidates.
"Sen. Barack Obama's national lead is solid - but it's not monolithic," Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a statement. "His support in the black community is about as close to unanimous as you can get. Politicians say that the only uncertainty will be turnout."
"As is usually the case, the outcome probably will be decided in the middle, among the independent voters, who are evenly split at this point," Carroll said. "About one-fifth of those who voted for New York Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries decline - so far, anyway - to come home to their party."
The poll also showed 88 percent of voters reporting they were "entirely" or "somewhat" comfortable with having a black president, compared to nine percent who were "somewhat" or "entirely" uncomfortable.
Looking toward McCain, 64 percent of voters reported they were "entirely" or "somewhat" comfortable with having a president who is 72 years old, compared to 24 percent who were "somewhat" or "entirely" uncomfortable.
The greatest issues of importance to their vote are the economy, Iraq and healthcare, according to the poll.
On the issue of the Iraq war, 51 percent supported McCain's plan to keep U.S. troops in Iraq without a set timetable to withdraw. Obama had said he would remove all combat brigades from Iraq within 16 months and keep some troops there to protect the embassy and diplomats. Recently, Obama said he would continue to "refine" his policies after meeting with commanders on the ground.
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Comments
compared to nine percent who were "somewhat" or "entirely" uncomfortable.
This is what those who think McBush is doing so well even with his attachment to Bush don't understand.
Posted by: bill "Hussein" r. | July 15, 2008 10:29 AM
A "University Polling Institute"???? What did they do....call all the college professors and the brain washed student's they teach?
Posted by: joe | July 15, 2008 10:41 AM
"About one-fifth of those who voted for New York Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries decline - so far, anyway - to come home to their party."
I would respectfully ask these children not to return. There must be some place these DINOs could go.
Posted by: bill "Hussein" r. | July 15, 2008 10:48 AM
I would respectfully ask these children not to return. There must be some place these DINOs could go.
Posted by: bill "Hussein" r. | July 15, 2008 10:48 AM
For the first time ever, I agree with Mr. Hussein...for all you Hillary supporters who are no longer welcome in the Democratic Party....Vote for John "the Patriot" McCain!!! After McCain is elected...Obama will fade away. Then Hillary can run again in four years! This is a great strategy....please keep up the good work Mr. Hussein!!!
Posted by: joe | July 15, 2008 11:13 AM
Poor losers those McCain supporters!!! Every time a poll comes out showing the geriatric McCain losing, they lose their "sweet" temper. Way to go, loser. You picked, with the helped of some democrats who messed up in New Hampshire and Michigan, the most unattractive, uncharismatic candidate out of the whole pack!!!! Suck it Up!!!
Posted by: carl29 | July 15, 2008 11:33 AM
please keep up the good work Mr. Hussein!!!
Posted by: joe | July 15, 2008 11:13 AM
No problem joe. After all, republicans were voting for Hillary anyway (operation chaos). Deep thinkers that don't vote for the issues truly belong on the right.
Posted by: bill "Hussein" r. | July 15, 2008 11:54 AM
Joe, I as one of the DINO's like your way of thinking. To CARL: I didn't know we were supposed to be voting for attractive charismatic candidates, I thought it was a matter of issues. I guess I will have to vote for the Green party since she is the most attractive. By the way as for this article, wasn't Obam up 12 about two weeks ago? Looks like a losing point to me.
Posted by: RFB-IL | July 15, 2008 11:57 AM
RFB-
Enjoy the War in Iran! Will you be volunteering or waiting for the draft?
Enjoy the end of the right to choose.
Enjoy huge deficits while we give tax breaks to the most wealthy.
Yep, it's worth destroying the country so that Hillary get's to be President. After all, she's the only american that matters, the other 300,000,000 should alll be willing to sacrifice for her benefit.
Posted by: Mel | July 15, 2008 12:29 PM
Quinnipiac is often wrong on the polling. Rasmussen Daily Tracking shows a dead heat. Over the past few elections, Rasmussen has been pretty much right on the mark. Funny how the Tribune neglects polling that isn't easy on Obama.
Posted by: Green Trees | July 15, 2008 12:33 PM
Ahahaha..who are they polling?
Posted by: brigitte | July 15, 2008 1:28 PM
Another absolute lie of a poll from QU. Check Gallup or Rasmussen for the real results: dead heat.
Stay classy, Carl, I'll take substance over your "attractive" candidate any day. You may have noticed that he fumbles like a child looking for mommy whenever he goes offscript.
Posted by: Jeff | July 15, 2008 3:02 PM
I guess we have another Newsweek poll, big lead now, only to be gone in the next poll they do. We are getting polled to death. Lets have no polls for the summer. All the pollsters should take the summer off and give us a break.
VJ Machiavelli
http://www.vjmachiavelli.blogspot.com
Posted by: VJ Machiavelli | July 16, 2008 1:10 AM