In the ABC Wapo poll a couple of days ago Obama was considered electable by 8% of of the sample. The CBS NYT poll a couple of days earlier was scarcely better with only 14% of democrats considering him electable. Clinton was in the sixties in both polls. His numbers on other key attributes like leadership and experience were just as bad. So my questions is: why the disconnect between these what seem to me absolutely appalling numbers and the fact that he is leading in some but not all polls in the first two or three primaries. Now I know these are national polls, but the samples were very large by comparison with the state polls which based on an earlier and very good diary here today seem to be riddled with question marks. But are the democrats in NH and IA so very different from those in say NY, MD, MA and VA. I find this very hard to believe. Since I'm a Clinton supporter I expect all the other partisans to dismiss this as self serving but there's a definite disconnect there. Why?
Why do only a tiny number of democrats, and it's incredibly small, appear to consider him electable and yet he's front running in a few polls. If it was a narrow difference I'd not think it had any significance but the chasm is yawning. The reasons have to revolve around his color and experience. Obviously the former never gets touched on in any of these polls because it's the third rail. Cue racist chanting. But his experience numbers were awful too. So explain it to me all you Obama fans. What's going on here?