Rasmussen: Biden a lukewarm choice
posted at 11:00 am on August 24, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
Send to a Friend | printer-friendly
Rasmussen test-polled Joe Biden as a running mate for Barack Obama, and clearly he is not about to set the world on fire. Biden gets a bare majority in his own party to support his selection, and women are the least enthusiastic of the demographics tested:
On the day that Barack Obama announced Joe Biden as his running mate, 39% of voters said he made the right choice. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 25% disagreed and another 35% are not sure.
Women are notably less enthusiastic than men—33% of women say Biden was the right choice while 27% disagreed. Men, by a 46% to 24% margin, said that Obama made the right choice. …
Not surprisingly, Democrats were more supportive of Obama's decision than anybody else—52% of those in his party agreed with his pick while 19% disagreed. However, just 43% of Democratic women said the presumptive nominee made the best pick while 23% disagreed.
Looking at the crosstabs, Biden's unenthusiastic response becomes even more clear. Among likely voters, Biden splits almost evenly on whether his selection makes voters more likely or less likely to support Obama, with 32% each and 30% saying no impact. Women are slightly less likely than more likely to vote for Obama with Biden as running mate (31%-29%).
In a huge blow to Obama, the age demographics play exactly against him. Biden produces an eight-point disadvantage on this same question among 18-29s, 39%-31%, and a 14-point gap for thirtysomethings, 37%-23%. The same age groups have large pluralities that don't believe Biden is ready to be president, 47-32 and 46-28 respectively. Given that Biden has roughly the same kind of experience as Obama and a lot more of it, that may start these age groups reconsidering Obama's own readiness for the presidency.
Not only has Biden not helped Obama, it looks like he's actually damaging the ticket with his addition. He certainly hasn't added any enthusiasm to the Democratic offering. Did Team Obama do any serious research on Biden and his effect before making this selection?
Update (AP): I don't know if he's actually damaging the ticket, but it's true that he isn't helping much (yet). Gallup has a new poll out noting that the net positive reaction for Biden is considerably smaller than for any other recent VP pick except Cheney and Quayle.
hotair.com |
