I can’t believe I’m posting a frikking horse race diary! What is the world coming to? Anyway, so the NYT and CBS NEWS have a massive (pdf!!!) new poll out. There’s all sorts of stuff; some good (Dems liked lots better than Repubs), some not so hot (Bush’s approval numbers ticking up 5 points in the last two weeks, WTF?). What I thought interesting: favorability ratings for some of the declared and undeclared presidential contenders of both parties. Pretty good news for us Gore supporters: Al now has the second-highest favs among the Dems, losing only narrowly to Obama, and the latter of course has many more DK responses. He’s also beating the ‘pubs except for Giuliani who has higher net-favs.
Without further ado, I give you the numbers:
The poll was conducted March 7-11, 2007. 1,362 respondends, 698 of those rethugs.
- Is your opinion of Al Gore favorable, not favorable, undecided, or haven't you heard enough about Al Gore yet to have an opinion?
Not Haven't
Fav Fav Und hrd Ref
1/1-3/07 CBS 32 46 19 2 1
3/7-11/07 37 32 23 8 1
That's a Fav-Unfav swing from - 14 to +5 since January and the best Gore has had since March of 2001 in this poll. The Oscar effect? Who knows. Odd though that "haven't heard" is up by six ;-)
Okay, here's Hillary:
- Is your opinion of Hillary Rodham Clinton favorable, not favorable, undecided, or haven't you heard enough about Hillary Rodham Clinton yet to have an opinion?
Not DK
Fav Fav Und engh. Ref
1/18-21/07* CBS 36 36 25 4
3/7-11/07 35 43 19 3 -
This poll has Hillary swinging from even to a net negative since January.
Edwards:
- Is your opinion of John Edwards favorable, not favorable, undecided, or haven’t you heard enough about John Edwards yet to have an opinion?
Not Haven't
Fav Fav Und hrd Ref
1/1-3/07 CBS 34 21 26 18
3/7-11/07 28 24 30 18 -
The trend here hasn't been kind to Edwards either. He's still got almost the same net positive favs as Gore, but higher undecideds and DK (of course, higher undecideds could be an advantage for Edwards).
Obama:
- Is your opinion of Barack Obama favorable, not favorable, undecided, or haven't you heard enough about Barack Obama yet to have an opinion?
Not DK
Fav Fav Und engh. Ref
1/18-21/07* CBS 29 9 20 41
3/7-11/07 39 18 20 23 -
Barack Obama is winning the day in net favs, although his absolutes are a mere two points above Gore's. OTOH he's an unknown quantity to a quarter of the respondents. If most of those wind up liking what they get to see once they (bother to) see it, Sen. Obama has a pretty good thing going for himself (and, hopefully, for us).
Now what about the other side? Giuliani's net favs are like Obama's, but in absolutes he has his ass kicked by Al Gore, Barack Obama, and even HRC:
- Is your opinion of Rudolph Giuliani favorable, not favorable, undecided, or haven't you heard enough about Rudolph Giuliani yet to have an opinion?
Not DK
Fav Fav Und engh. Ref
2/8-11/07* CBS 41 18 25 16 -
3/7-11/07 33 18 26 23 -
Rudy's star has been sinking, just as he's emerged as the front runner. McCain, of course, isn't doing any better:
- Is your opinion of John McCain favorable, not favorable, undecided, or haven’t you heard enough about John McCain yet to have an opinion?
Not DK
Fav Fav Und engh. Ref
2/8-11/07* CBS 31 20 28 21
3/7-11/07 24 21 26 29 -
McCain has about the net favs of Edwards and Gore, but at a far lower absolute level.
Bottom line? Oh well. Who knows how much information you can really get out of these numbers. But it's interesting to notice that Gore's numbers are on the way up, and aside from Barack Obama he's the only one who has this thing going for him at the moment. And that, of course, at damn near 100% name recognition.