There was a new poll last week from the Wall Street Journal/NBC News showing support for Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., is remaining tight nationally, with Obama edging ahead within the margin of error. There’s good news in the poll for Republicans — voters seem to like John McCain more than they like the Republican Party in general, suggesting a tighter race than Democrats had foreseen.
But a more interesting nugget is buried deep in the data. It seems that the more voters see of former President Bill Clinton, the less they like him.
The poll shows a significant shift in his approval rating from a year ago.
In March 2007, about 48 percent had a positive view of the former president and 35 percent had a negative view. Now his negatives slightly outpace his positives, 45 percent to 42 percent.
At the same time, Hillary Clinton’s positive number rose to 45 percent from 39 percent while her negative remained almost static, increasing to 44 percent from 43 percent.
As for Obama, the more voters saw of him — or, at least the more they learned about him — the more they liked him.
In March 2007, his positive number was 37 percent and his negative 17 percent. Now Obama’s positive-negative numbers are 51 percent to 28 percent. In the earlier survey, 26 percent said they were neutral about him and 20 percent said they didn’t know.
Now, 18 percent say they are neutral and 3 percent undecided.
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