Posted by Jed Lewison on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 1:16 AM Pacific

CBS News poll: Obama retains advantage over Clinton with independents

CBS News is out with a poll conducted after the Wright story broke, and although he slipped a little ground, Obama continues to fare better than Hillary Clinton.

First, the toplines (but these aren't the really interesting numbers): Obama leads McCain 48-43, Clinton 46-44. Among primary voters, Obama leads 46-43.

Probably the worst single piece of news is that Obama now trails McCain by 8 points amongst independents. The news is worse for Clinton, who trails by 11.

CBS News poll released March 19th

Overall, Obama has the strongest favorabilities of any of the candidates. What's really striking is how much stronger he does amongst independents than Clinton, as you can see in this chart. He also has a significant primary lead amongst independents, although the Limbaugh Effect can be seen among Republicans, where Clinton leads Obama.

The really interesting question though was the one about Iraq, which asked whether voters had confidence in the ability of the candidates to make the right decisions on Iraq.

Clinton ties Obama amongst Democrats, but trails him badly with independents and slightly with Republicans.

I think these numbers show that her "experience" line of argument has already boomeranged.

Even worse, it probably bolstered John McCain's standings -- amongst independents, he now leads all three candidates. I don't have trendlines for these numbers, but I can't imagine Clinton's copious praise of McCain did him any harm.

Just goes to show: Hillary Clinton has no clue how to beat John McCain. (Or Barack Obama, for that matter.)

CBS News poll: Obama retains advantage over Clinton with independents

CBS News is out with a poll conducted after the Wright story broke, and although he slipped a little ground, Obama continues to fare better than Hillary Clinton.

First, the toplines (but these aren't the really interesting numbers): Obama leads McCain 48-43, Clinton 46-44. Among primary voters, Obama leads 46-43.

Probably the worst single piece of news is that Obama now trails McCain by 8 points amongst independents. The news is worse for Clinton, who trails by 11.

CBS News poll released March 19th

Overall, Obama has the strongest favorabilities of any of the candidates. What's really striking is how much stronger he does amongst independents than Clinton, as you can see in this chart. He also has a significant primary lead amongst independents, although the Limbaugh Effect can be seen among Republicans, where Clinton leads Obama.

The really interesting question though was the one about Iraq, which asked whether voters had confidence in the ability of the candidates to make the right decisions on Iraq.

Clinton ties Obama amongst Democrats, but trails him badly with independents and slightly with Republicans.

I think these numbers show that her "experience" line of argument has already boomeranged.

Even worse, it probably bolstered John McCain's standings -- amongst independents, he now leads all three candidates. I don't have trendlines for these numbers, but I can't imagine Clinton's copious praise of McCain did him any harm.

Just goes to show: Hillary Clinton has no clue how to beat John McCain. (Or Barack Obama, for that matter.)

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