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"Most of California's political professionals consider the state to be reliably Democratic -- and too expensive to prompt a full-throated effort by a Republican candidate who could amass electoral votes more cheaply elsewhere."
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Clinton would also defeat McCain in the fall, but by a smaller margin. The survey comes less than four months after Obama's loss in the state primary.
Less than four months after losing the California primary, Democrat Barack Obama leads Republican John McCain in projected November general election matchups, a new Los Angeles Times/KTLA Poll has found.
Obama, the Illinois senator who has inched close to his party's nomination, would defeat McCain by seven points if the election were held today. New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, whose fortunes have faltered since her Feb. 5 drubbing of Obama in California, would eke out only a three-point victory, the poll found. (my emphasis)
In California, the poll showed the electorate "gravitating toward the candidate who is broadly expected to eventually seize the party's mantle." And with Latinos, Catholics and those without college degrees, Obama does better against McCain than does Clinton.
Overall, Obama led McCain 47% to 40% among registered voters, while Clinton led McCain 43% to 40%.
To make it even better for Obama, McSame's got problems here in California.
McCain's standing against Obama -- coming after months of good news for the Republican and a brutal and continuing Democratic primary battle -- offered the presumptive GOP nominee little solace. One bright spot was support among Latinos. McCain won 38% of Latinos against Obama and 41% against Clinton; both figures are substantially higher than the proportion won by George W. Bush in his two presidential campaigns.
But other poll findings suggest problems for McCain. The senator has made joint appearances with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and has touted the affinity between the two. But the governor's job approval rating has slumped dramatically, from 60% favorable among voters in January to 43% favorable now. About 42% of Californians disapproved of how Schwarzenegger has handled his job. (my emphasis)
And I just can't tell you how happy it makes me that California voters have finally figured out Schwarzenegger's true colors. It only took them (yours truly not included) 2 terms to finally get it right and it appears McSame will suffer 'republican fatigue' from California voters who are tired of being sold down the river as they watch Arnie, yet again, slash the budget and take away from those who need the most while promoting a 'yacht exemption' for the rich and powerful. The voters are finally fed up with Arnie's republican way of financing our state budget and their honeymoon (yours truly not included) with the Governator appears to be drawing to an end.
The poll also found Californians more pessimistic about the state's direction than at any time since the 2003 recall that swept Schwarzenegger into office. Fewer than one in five voters felt the state was headed in the right direction, with two-thirds convinced it was on the wrong track. That was the lowest rating since August 2003, on the eve of the recall campaign, when a mere 14% of voters were optimistic.
It's not just democrats that believe things are all wrong. 73% of the republicans believed the state was on the wrong track and only 52% believed the governor was doing a good job. That can't be good news for McSame who is counting on the governor to help prop him up with the republicans in the state, all 30+% of them. And if you consider how McSame does with Latinos compared to Obama, well he can say goodbye to California.
McCain has argued that he can run strongly among Latinos, in part because he has long favored comprehensive immigration reform that would include a strategy to legalize immigrants, much to the disdain of many in his party. In the survey, he lost Latinos to Clinton by six points and to Obama by 14 points. (my emphasis)
And 2 more tidbits of good news for Obama in California
Signs that Democratic loyalty had survived the primary surfaced repeatedly in the survey. To take one measure, Clinton won 76% of Democrats against McCain; Obama won 75%, a statistically insignificant difference. In any case, Obama more than made up for it by winning more independents and Republicans than Clinton would. (my emphasis)
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Democratic women, Clinton's bulwark throughout the primaries and a source of emotional sustenance now, in the closing days of the race, showed no sign of turning against Obama. About 74% of them sided with Clinton against McCain; 75% sided with Obama against McCain.
I'll admit I had my doubts about what the electorate here in California would do since Clinton won our primary, but it now appears Obama will secure the nomination. After all, lots of democrats and independents, along with republicans, voted Arnie into office not once, but twice, even though in the last 4 presidential elections, my state's gone democratic. We are a fickle electorate, but now enough elements of it are sufficiently disgusted enough so that a majority of voters in California STAND WITH OBAMA. As it should be!