Rasmussen has conducted a poll measuring "the impact of Pastor Wright and THE SPEECH on Election '08:"
"Early data suggests that it has already had a negative impact on Obama's chances of winning the general election against John McCain. The good news for Obama is that his numbers have stopped falling since his speech on Tuesday. The bad news is that they haven't bounced back."
For those of you who prefer your data in hard numbers rather than frilly prose, since THE SPEECH Obama's approval rating has soared from 47% (the lowest it had been at any point in the election season) to 48%. In other words, THE SPEECH stopped the bleeding. For now.
What's most striking about these figures is that even with the mainstream media collectively spluttering like a love-struck schoolgirl over Obama's wonderfulness, public opinion hasn't moved. Obama gave a speech that most people thought was great. Said speech momentarily distracted from the issue that was causing his approval rates to plummet. But said speech did not seriously attempt a full accounting of his relationship with Reverend Wright.
Thus, the fundamentals remain unchanged. While wheezing baby-boom nostalgists are experiencing a tingling frisson just thinking about Election '08 hinging on a defining issue of the 1960's like race relations, the rest of the country will make its voting decisions on more topical matters like the economy and foreign policy. And, as always, the candidates' character will have center stage.
