Obama scores high on thermometer while Hillary leaves many cold

[illinoisprogressive]

NEW YORK It's still only 2007, already the candidates have been measured on practically every scale. Now Gallup has borrowed one it calls the "feeling thermometer" rating scale. And Sen. Barack Obama wins the race for warmth while Sen. Hillary Clinton leaves many "cold."

Gallup said today that it recently tested the public images of several of the Republican and Democratic candidates running for president. "Of these, only one -- Barack Obama -- stirs up warm feelings in a majority of Americans," it found. But "Clinton's image is the most polarized of this group: nearly as many Americans say she leaves them cold as say they feel warmly toward her."

Obama scores "total warm" with 53%, and "total cold" with 28%. Clinton, on the other hand, seemed warm to 49% but cold to 44%. Sen. John Edwards scored 47% warm and 32% cold.

On the GOP side, Rudy Giuliani topped field with 50% warmth and 31% cold. Gallup said that Fred Thompson's 30% "warm" score was actually pretty good, given he is not yet so well known.

Gallup said that this is not a new concept: National Elections Studies came up with the idea of asking Americans to rate candidates on how they feel about them, from 0 to 100.

http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003636838

[Imagevision]

1. I believe to some degree Obama is right stating that Hillary is Bushlite

[pnwmom]

2. Their voting records are practically the same.

Both are among the most progressive in the Senate.

[snowbear]

4. Their hearts, minds, and souls are WORLD's apart.

And to top it off... Obama is even highly likable!

[pnwmom]

5. Yeah, but his wife says he stinks.

I wish she'd stop putting him down. If he IS the nominee, it won't be helpful.

[Nutmegger]

3. R&K

:thumbsup::kick:

[Ethelk2044]

6. Great!

[PATRICK]

7. If you take

all these feeling polls together nothing really new is learned and the numbers themselves are not very dramatic because I believe all such questions are still influenced by perception of horse race status and if the candidate is one's first choice. Otherwise, I'd suspect the Obama numbers would be stronger and Clinton's weaker, but really there is not much to learn from these agonizing forays into the current state of the voter's mind than common sense(devoid of fearful doubt) couldn't tell you.

The gaming of polling info. That is the ongoing political story that is obviously underneath the story.

[tblue37]

8. Maybe if we could get the junior high idiots in the media to treat this as

a serious matter rather than a horse race or a beauty contest, then Americans could vote on the basis of whether the candidate would be a good president rather than whether he/she gives them the warm fuzzies.

As it is now, most people respond to the candidates without having a clue about where they stand on the issues, because it is not that easy for most people to find out how the candidates would govern, though they can easily tell how the candidates would have their hair done or how they will dress--and they know how to feel about hair and clothing, since the corporate media spend so much time telling them what those things mean.

[superkia]

9. Why dont they mention Kucinch?

I think all potential candidates should be always mentioned or else they are just tilting the table so only the the ones the media wants are in peoples mind. Even if a candidate is not supported by 30% of the public, they are still a candidate that has ideas the citizens may like. I hate seeing all these polls and all the fuss over only 3 candidates. From the beginning of all this the media has only really given attention to a select few and it worked because the select few dominate all the posts, with a few for any other candidate. People say Kucinich cant get 3% of his own party but if no one ever hears of you or knows anything about you, how the hell can they make an informed decision on who should help this country dig out of this mess?

I hope everyone wakes up before the primaries and votes the candidate that is stepping out on a ledge and speaking for the people. By people that would mean all of us here too. It scares me when we all fall for the political system the way its set up and we vote for candidates that for the most part, don't stand up on the important issues and they play the politics game with all their answers. To me that is not someone who is PRESIDENTIAL, its COWARDLY and tells me they are not for the people and that they only want to say what is needed to get elected for the people they really support. :rant: