Obama Trip Coverage Fires Up Republicans?

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

I don't think Obama's foreign trip will really have a large lasting impact on the election one way or the other. But Gallup has some results I didn't expect:

"The heavy coverage of the trip may have fueled speculation — or reinforced pre-existing attitudes — about news media bias in Obama's favor," Gallup added in its poll, conducted with USA Today.
The number of respondents who saw press coverage of Obama as unfairly positive was 39 percent. A total of 32 percent said coverage of McCain was unfairly negative.
"The media's coverage of Obama's foreign trip, coupled with a strong reaction from McCain and other conservatives, may have created the seemingly paradoxical effect of increasing Republicans' energy and excitement about voting for McCain," Gallup said.
"If this is the case, the degree to which this is short-term versus long-term is still not clear."
Obama's favorable rating dropped from 64 percent last month to 61 percent in the new poll. McCain's had increased from 59 percent to 62.

What do people remember in November? Maliki liking Obama's withdrawal plan, or Petraeus not liking it? The cheering throngs in Berlin, or the back-and-forth on why the trip to visit wounded troops was scrubbed?

07/29 01:13 PM Share