PPIC: Not So Fast, Hillary and Mac
Finally, some presidential politics to talk about in this PPIC poll... and warning signs for supporters of John McCain and Hillary Clinton that the two pols may face an uphill battle here.
The poll shows 61% of voters now have a favorable opinion of Democrat Barack Obama. That's tops of the big three contenders. Only 49% feel that way about McCain and only 45% feel that way about Clinton. If the election were held today, Obama would beat McCain 49%-40%... while Clinton would scrape by 46%-43%.
Two things come to mind from all of that. One is that the Clinton camp has made much ado of late about her strength in the nation's electoral vote-rich states. But even though she won the California primary back in February, it looks like she's lost some real ground here.
And the second observation: the new poll showing McCain's current weakness among many California voters comes the very same week as the Arizona Republican's swing through the state where he quipped that he believes he can win here. To make matters worse: a solid 58% of Californians surveyed want U.S. troops to come home from Iraq soon... and only 34% think the troop surge, strongly supported by McCain, has worked. Mac has his work cut out for him if he truly thinks California will be in play.
