CNN's Schneider says, altho Hillary way ahead in who can win in '08, she loses "likability" to Obama

[flpoljunkie]

34% to 31%--and that "likability matters" a great deal in presidential elections. This 31% is a huge gap and compares unfavorably to the 55% of Democrats who think Hillary can win in '08.

Bill Schnider was on CNN a few minutes ago with this new CNN polling.

[wyldwolf]

1. yeah, there was an op-ed a few weeks back saying after Bush, "likability" is now overated.

[Kolesar]

2. I have doubts that even *Democrats* like Hillary Clinton

She would have the votes of ~40% of the likely Democratic primary voters. That cannot be considered to be a robust recommendation. That may be the upper limit of people who really like her.

[wyldwolf]

3. every poll taken disagrees with you.

[Indy_Dem_Defender]

19. But every poll that takes its sample

from a pool of registered democrats loses credibility because not every state has voters register party affiliation. The only polls that can be truly taken into account are Democrat candidate vs Republican candidate matchup polls.

[wyldwolf]

20. entirely false

The pool contains voters who lean Democratic and likely voters.

[rinsd]

5. 40% of likely Dem voters in an 8 candidate race is not robust support?

Against a candidate who finished 2nd last time around and a rockstar?

"That may be the upper limit of people who really like her."

People claimed the same thing when she was in the low 30's.

DUers may not like her but Clinton's approval ratings among Democrats top 80%.

[Kolesar]

7. 80% times 59 million likely Democratic voters won't win us the White House

Hillary could be assured of 48 million votes and struggle to get the next eleven million votes that would get her the White House.

I could not find the Slate article from last year about her lukewarm support from Democrats, but I found this June 2007 article by John Dickerson.

http://www.slate.com/id/2169159/
...
According to the latest Gallup poll, 50 percent of the country has an unfavorable view of Sen. Clinton. Neither John Kerry nor Al Gore achieved such a high negative rating in the Gallup poll during their failed presidential bids. In other polls, her unfavorable ratings are as much as 12 points higher than those of any other candidate running in either party. Favorability is an imperfect measure of voters' fondness, because it also captures the way voters think about policy positions, but in surveys that ask specifically about likability, she does horribly. This dim view is confirmed in less-scientific focus groups—and in my notebooks, which are filled with interviews with Democrats, some of whom support her, who express doubts about her electability without any prompting.

[rinsd]

10. Ummm her approval ratings with Democrats are higher than Edwards or Obama.

So I don't know what you are calling lukewarm.

Here's the most recent Gallup poll

http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=28363

Obama and Edwards still trail in name recognition. And when you go up in name recognition your negatives rise. You can see it on the handy charts they provided.

"This dim view is confirmed in less-scientific focus groups—and in my notebooks, which are filled with interviews with Democrats, some of whom support her, who express doubts about her electability without any prompting."

Wow this moron has discovered a meme created by MSM. Focus groups also find Obama to be inexperienced and Edwards to be too pretty.

[Kolesar]

11. Hillary's 49% negative in the Gallup poll you cite is 7% higher than any candidate in any party

49% negative--that's a recipe for disaster. How are you going to surmount that?

http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=28363

[rinsd]

13. Simple watch her campaign.

Hillary's numbers have risen amongst Democrats who have gotten to see that she isn't the creature the rw has made her out to be.

As far as hatred of her driving GOP turnout, anti candidacies rarely work out in the GE.

She also beats most of the GOP in head to head matchups (with Rudy various polls shown both with smalle leads over the other) before they even start running against each other.

[Kolesar]

15. Hillary's numbers have risen amongst Democrats who have gotten to see that she isn't the creature...

What does that mean? I really don't know what creature you think the RW has made Hillary to be.

And what is Hillary really doing to decrease her negatives?

[rinsd]

16. Hillary the candidate is confronting Hillary the caricature.

And while Hillary may not score well on likeability, she is always at the top in polling of perception of experience and whether one is up to the job as President.

[Kolesar]

17. That was thin. However the problem is not some RW labeling, but her innate skills as a politician

She still does not have extremely strong momentum. I am just hoping that primary voters catch on to her in the next few months. The world sure as hell does not need a Robert Rubinesque free trading corporate tool in the white house. We can get that and an pro-Iraq War position just as well from the republicans.

[rinsd]

18. Its too early to have strong momentum.

Right now she is just chugging along parrying away the thrusts of her opponents who are likely to up their attacks since she has not seen any real decline in her poll standing.

[BeyondGeography]

21. Sorry, rin, Hillary the Candidate talks out of both sides of her mouth

More people see that all the time. Believe me, for purely partisan reasons it is satisfying to see her penchant for mendacity exposed on issues such as talking to dictators (bad idea only if Obama says it it a good idea) and taking nukes off the table (no "blanket statements" ever, unless I made one in 2006), but these foul-ups in the summer before the real season starts should be disconcerting to anyone who wants the White House back. Flip-flops on national security are about the only hope for Repubs next year and she has already revealed herself as, to be charitable, accident-prone in this area.

[flpoljunkie]

22. Yes, Hillary was against nuking Iran before she was for not taking it off the table for Pakistan!

[rinsd]

24. The Obama campaign wishes it could make that a flipflop

But in context its obvious that she was chastising the Bush admin for nuclear saber rattling as a means of diplomacy vs. her comments on Obama which had to do with blanket statements regarding nukes.

Not that I agree with the latter comments but to call it a flip flop is well so Rovian.

[snowbear]

27. Which is incredibly scary.

Although, we'll see what Democrats are saying just prior to Iowa.

After 8 years of total HELL, the last thing we need to do is nominate the least electable selection we have.

[Clark2008]

14. He actually finished third.

But, the media won't mention that Clark beat him in five of nine races in which they both competed. Edwards just stuck around far too long.

Just thought I'd mention that.

[AtomicKitten]

25. your children are lovely, Clark2008

pace su terra

[emilyg]

8. I don't have to like

my candidate. But I do have to think he/she is best for the job.

[flpoljunkie]

9. Now that's the faintest praise!

[Kolesar]

12. Read my sig line

[TwilightGardener]

4. Of course--that's why she's desperately trying to undermine Obama.

[emilyg]

23. And your point is?

I don't see Obama singing her praises.

[0007]

6. I'm so tired of listening to that effeminate republican shill turkey I

wish Greta Van Susteren was back at CNN. (Just kidding about Greta Van Susteren) She was the worse of the worse.

[illinoisprogressive]

26. the democrats seem to have a thing for nominating the most unlikable candidate.

[DFW]

28. Fer Pete's sake, Bill Schneider is a flag-waving Republican!!

What makes him so special that his quotes are worth
using as a basis for a discussion thread here? You
think he's "fair and balanced?" Like Tony Snow, he is.

Find someone a little more neutral to use for your
source!

[BenDavid]

29. Ever notice that on a thursday or a friday

that CNN has on old Bill to give his impression of the polls. Each Thursday or Friday the polls show the gains of HRC and the losses by Obama and Edwards. This past Thursday old Bill was smiling wide when he said that HRC likeabilty has increased and the Dems and Indies were liking her more....Now each Monday it seems that old Bill gets another poll from another organization, in which all are in concert with Time-Life-CNN-USA Today...and like today it was good and bad for HRC....but I am under the strong impression that likeabilty this election will not play into it all that much. This old chit about wanting to have a beer or a slice of pizza with a candidate will not matter. The American people are tired of this chit.

The public will be looking for someone which will take this country into a new direction and bring some stabilty back to the U.S. and provide us with the leadership to get other nations to again trust our country. The only likeability that will matter will be to get those overseas countries to again like us and in turn begin again to trust us....

I do thank you
Ben David

[flpoljunkie]

30. When has Hillary Clinton shown any leadership in the Senate--other than on flag burning bills?