Times Poll Shows REAL Story

From Red Winds on Daily Kos:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/14/55720/4937/863/436465

John Edwards—the more voters know, the more voters like
by Red Wind
Mon Jan 14, 2008 at 03:51:47 AM PST

Edwards only candidate whose favorability improves; one-quarter still haven’t heard enough – NYT poll says, NYT story doesn't

The latest New York Times/CBS News nationwide poll on the presidential races, national issues, and Bush’s favorability was released today, and while the Times’ main article about the poll trumpets some rather predictable narratives, there are many—many—other stories buried in the numbers that were apparently not deemed interesting enough for “casual” readers (and by “casual,” I mean, here, people that only read the paper and don’t download the pdf of the whole poll—in other words, pretty much everyone).

[...]

While the Times story tells of a relative stability in the national race for the Democratic nomination (with Clinton still in the lead, followed by Obama, and then Edwards), it misses some very interesting movement in the favorability numbers of the three leading candidates. Or, rather, the movement in the numbers for one candidate in particular.



Yes, the two sitting senators’ “favorable” numbers continue to come in higher than those of John Edwards, but notice that while Clinton’s favorability has slipped by a hair since the previous poll, and Obama’s numbers are static, the favorability of John Edwards has shot up 9%.

Further, the increase in favorability comes almost entirely from the undecided column. Couple this with the rather remarkable finding that, after over a year of this presidential election cycle, a whopping quarter of voters still haven’t heard enough about Edwards (compared with 8% who say they haven’t heard enough about Obama and a scant 2% that say the same about Clinton), and it appears quite clear that the more people know about John Edwards, the more they like him.

This, of course, is a good news/bad news conclusion. An Edwards supporter should be overjoyed to see that familiarity breeds affinity. Indeed, any campaign would love to know that exposure to their candidate has an almost universal upside. But, given the near universal cold-shoulder given to Edwards by the establishment media, how are those 16% undecided and 25% who haven’t heard enough to find out more about the South Carolina-born progressive Democrat?

Add to this the problems faced by a contender who refuses PAC money when he is forced to compete with two “celebrity” candidates that have each sucked in more than $100 million, and the question is underscored.

It can be taken as dispiriting or as a challenge. If all of America had a chance to hear from and about John Edwards, he might be viewed as the most favorable of all the Democrats in the field—but if Edwards cannot garner equal coverage, or fists full of cash, it is quite possible that the candidate, the party, and the country will all be shortchanged.

Let’s take it as a challenge. Help voters learn more about John Edwards. Tell your family and friends. Blog everywhere (cross-posted on capitoilette and The Seminal). Donate here.

UPDATE: I am reminded that KingOneEye (and not the campaign as previously written--I apologize for the error) has set an ambitious $7 million fundraising goal for this Friday. More information can be found in KingOneEye's diary.

[View Original]