USA Today/Gallup Poll. Dec. 14-16, 2007. N=1,011 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.
(Obama's lead has been consistent all year, and widened in the past 3 weeks.)
"Next, I'd like to get your overall opinion of some people in the news. As I read each name, please say if you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of these people -- or if you have never heard of them. How about Barack Obama?"
"[ditto...] How about Hillary Clinton?"
The short answer: Obama has an 18% lead over Clinton, with FAR fewer people having an "Unfavorable" view of him! And he has a 6% lead over her in "Favorable", with 57%.
Obama Hillary
Favorable: 57% 51%
Unfavorable: 30% 48% [!!!!]
Never Heard of: 4%
Unsure: 9%
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I don't know what explains the huge gap with Rasmussen's poll, but the difference is striking. (See comment below by "Daaaaave": this Rasmussen poll is WAY off from their previous poll, which showed Obama with a 9% lead over Hillary. It looks like an outlier. There's been nothing to explain the change. E.g., I've read anecdotal stories reporting a little higher unfavorability for Obama among Latino-Americans than among other ethnic groups. But in no way does that make up for Hillary's widespread unpopularity -- with all groups! And it doesn't explain the purported change.)
Much more important, Obama's lead over Hillary has been CONSISTENT for the past YEAR. See the graphs comparing them:
Obama's clear lead, all year, click here: pollingreport.com/gallery2.htm#GALobamaFAV.
Hillary struggling to keep her head above 50% favorable (and often failing, all year), click here: pollingreport.com/gallery2.htm#GALclintonFAV.
And it's not just PollingReport. MOST polls show that Hillary has far worse "unfavorables" than Obama. (An appeal to 'common sense' and your own experience asking strangers might be a good reality check.) E.g.:
Fox News, taken December 18-19:
Barack Obama: 49% favorable; 33% unfavorable
John Edwards: 45% favorable; 35% unfavorable
John McCain: 53% favorable; 29% unfavorable
Hillary Clinton: 45% favorable; 49% unfavorable
George W. Bush: 39% favorable; 56% unfavorable
That's a 16% lead Obama has over Hillary, on unfav's.
From the Wall Street Journal's recent poll, taken December 14-17:
Barack Obama: 46% favorable; 32% unfavorable
John Edwards: 38% favorable; 31% unfavorable
John McCain: 39% favorable; 28% unfavorable
Hillary Clinton: 44% favorable; 44% unfavorable
George W. Bush: 36% favorable; 53% unfavorable
That's a 12% lead Obama has over Hillary, on unfav's.
And as NeuvoLiberal points out (h/t for the above #s, from a comment!), this isn't right-wing bias. After all, Rasmussen is an Evangelical Christian.
Beware of anyone who tries to "pull a Rove" by attacking Obama on his greatest strength! :-) Obama will SWEEP the country in November 2008, there's just no doubt about it. Whereas Hillary would drag us down and could well lose an election that is in our jaws of victory.
[Apologies, I finished a long Diary, Previewed it, then managed to delete most of it just before posting. I'm working to re-construct, apologies. mutter]