(There was a diary about these polls that mysteriously disappeared....what happened?)
Two new polls show Obama running stronger than both Hillary and Mccain in California and Connecticut. He also has a vastly higher approval rating than either of them in both states. One was taken before and during Wright, and one was after.
Polls, below the fold.
The California poll is a little hard to figure out.
It ran from March 11-18, which means that half of it was taken before the Wright controversy and half of it was taken during. The last day of the poll (the 18th) was the date of Obama's speech. My analysis of this is that since half of the poll was before Wright and half conducted at the height of it, and before the speech had the chance to reverse the narrative, they aren't necessarily accurate (he may have lost support) but they probably show good news. He is doing better than both Hillary and Mccain and his favorability rating is very high. Which suggests that he didn't have an overwhelming collapse of support, at the height of the Wreight controversy, even before he "explained himself" in the speech. Obviously, we'll have to wait for a California poll conducted entirely after both Wright and the speech to really get a feel for his support, but I think these numbers show he's doing extrememly well.
Meanwhile...what excuse does Hillary have for almost losing California??
Here are the numbers:
Obama 49 - McCain 40
Clinton 46 - McCain 43
Favorable/unfavorable ratings:
Obama 61-34 (+27)
McCain 49-45 (+4)
Clinton 45-52 (-7)
This Quinnipiac Connecticut poll was taken entirely after Wright and the speech (March 19-24).
Obama trounces Mccain and Hillary....almost loses!!! The pollster says that, predictibly, he has strong support of young people and Independents.
Obama 52 - McCain 35
Clinton 45 - McCain 42
Favorable/unfavorable ratings:
Obama 59-24 (+35)
McCain 52-31 (+21)
Clinton 46-47 (-1)
This is basically good news all around. Along with the NBC/WSJ poll that came out yesterday, it's clear that even after the worst crisis of his campaign, Obama is still standing and standing strong. I suspect that he will have to be dealing with Wright every single day from now until November (As I type this, there is some sort of controversy bubbling around some LA Times column Wright re-printed in the Church newsletter) but if it hasn't been able to bring him down yet, after the aggressive way it was pushed by the media, then I don't think that it will.