2008 in review: Low lows and high highs

by Mark Silva

Hindsight, as they say, is 20/20.

This is what the road looked like through the windshield, driving through 2008 (with a review of the Gallup Poll's more interesting findings during the year ending tonight):

• In January, after the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, a hypothetical match-up between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama puts McCain ahead of Obama, 50% to 45% and more said they prefer a tested leader than say they prefer an inspiring one.

• In February, despite neither candidate in the Democratic primary contest having yet secured enough delegates to win the Democratic presidential nomination, 70 percent of Democrats and 82 percent of Republicans predicted Obama would be the eventual winner.

• In March, McCain's favorable rating hit 67 percent, the highest of any of the three major presidential candidates and his highest since February of 2000. More than a quarter of Clinton supporters (28 percent) said they would vote for McCain if Barack Obama were the Democratic nominee.

• In April, Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Mitt Romney of Massachusetts topped the wish lists of Republicans surveyed for McCain's vice presidential running mate.

• In May, Slightly more likely voters said McCain's association with President Bush made them less likely to vote for McCain (38 percent), than those who said Obama's association with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright diminished their likelihood of voting for Obama (33 percent).

• In June, confidence in Congress reached its lowest point ever, just 12 percent, and the lowest Gallup had ever measured for any institution.

• In July, coincident with his well-publicized trip abroad, Obama enjoyed his biggest lead yet over McCain in the Gallup Poll's daily tracking of registered voters, 49 to 40 percent.

• In August, Initial reaction to both vice presidential running mate choices was similar -- with just under half of Americans rating the choices of Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Sarah Palin as either excellent or good.

• In September, as the Democratic National Convention ended and the Republican National Convention began, Obama enjoyed the support of 50 percent of registered voters for the first time.

• In October, after a week of devastating losses on Wall Street, a mere 7 percent of Americans said they are satisfied with the way things are going in the United States, the lowest satisfaction reading in Gallup history.

• In November, in Gallup's final pre-election poll, 55 percent of likely voters said they preferred Obama and 44 percent prefered McCain.

• In December, Americans' "collective level of happiness'' hit a 2008 low of 35 percent on Dec. 11, amid a jump in new jobless claims and the failure of an auto bailout bill. Happiness hit 65 percent on Christmas Day, tying Easter for the second happiest day of the year.