During the Democratic primaries the Obama campaign and his army of netroots bloggers constantly focused on polls showing that voters had a negative opinion of Hillary Clinton. Obama now has ownership of those same poll numbers himself. The Zogby poll out today shows that most voters now have a negative impression of Obama and have a favorable impression of John McCain.
McCain’s favorability rating increased from 50% favorable last week to 57% favorable now, a significant jump that indicates the GOP convention was a success. Among independent voters, 61% now have a favorable impression of him, compared to just 49% who said the same a week ago.
Nearly half – 49% – said they had a favorable opinion of Barack Obama, while 50% they had a negative impression of him. Among independent voters, 47% gave him favorable marks, compared to 46% who said the same thing last week.
When John Kerry’s polls showed similar numbers in 2004 he was never able to recover.
McCain announced today that if elected he will appoint a bipartisan Cabinet of both Republicans and Democrats to bring about change in Washington.