The first poll on the impact of Senator Joseph Biden is out. A Rasmussen Reports poll shows that while men were more approving of Obama’s Vice Presidential choice, women were less than enthusiastic. Overall in the national polls, women have continued to be the mainstay of Obama’s support. In not a single poll to date has Obama’s support among women fallen below the 50% mark so there is a chance that the selection of Senator Biden might cut into Obama’s support among women. Might those be offset by a corresponding gain among men? It’s possible but unlikely.
On the day that Barack Obama announced Joe Biden as his running mate, 39% of voters said he made the right choice. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 25% disagreed and another 35% are not sure.
Women are notably less enthusiastic than men—33% of women say Biden was the right choice while 27% disagreed. Men, by a 46% to 24% margin, said that Obama made the right choice.
Not surprisingly, Democrats were more supportive of Obama’s decision than anybody else—52% of those in his party agreed with his pick while 19% disagreed. However, just 43% of Democratic women said the presumptive nominee made the best pick while 23% disagreed.
Overall, 32% said the selection of Biden made them more likely to vote for Obama and an identical percentage said it made them less likely to do so. Among unaffiliated voters, 25% are more likely to vote for Biden while 33% had the opposite view.
Thirty-nine percent (39%) say Biden is ready to be President while 35% disagree.
Biden is now viewed favorably by 48% of voters and unfavorably by 34%. Those figures reflect a slight improvement from Thursday night polling.
Forty-three percent (43%) now say Biden is politically liberal and 33% say politically moderate. Before he was named as Obama’s running mate, 41% viewed him as liberal and 22% said moderate.
It’s too early to tell the impact of the selection of Senator Biden but the early indication is not good for the Obama campaign. While I need to look more into the why Biden is held in so low esteem by women but I believe that it centers on the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearings.
Also from the reading the blogs, the antagonism towards Biden isn’t limiting to the pro-Clinton blogs but more widespread than that. On the pro-Clinton blogs, Obama can do no right so they are hardly objective but on number of more feminist blogs the opinion is less than flattering. Others are also focusing on Biden’s sponsorship of the RAVE Act. More later after some research.