We do learn a lot from polls, even facts about which candidate might be the most electable. But the polls that directly attempt to show imaginary matchups for the 2008 elections should all be disregarded no matter who they claim to favor.
Zogby says Hillary loses to some Republicans?
Gallup says she beats them all?
Whoop de doo. It's not worth blowing your nose on and just muddies the waters in trying to figure out who could actually win this thing. We all should know that's true but many point to these polls anyway when they seem to favor our candidate.
Right now the Republican candidates are falling all over each other to prove who is the bigger wing nut in order to secure their wing nut nomination. Particularly in regards to the lesser known candidates that's all most respondents to polls have to go on when you say, "Clinton or Huckabee?" "Obama or Romney?" It doesn't reflect much of anything about how most swing voters will come to see those candidates once they are the actual nominee and not some obscure candidate they've barely heard of.
There is the simple fact that the stature of a candidate changes drastically once they are given the high profile of a party's nomination. And we know that the Republican candidate in particular will go through a magical change after the nomination and turn into something that sounds like a populist.
Remember that outside of the weird few that we are, a vast majority of the population doesn't pay much attention to politics and will have little trouble digesting whatever new GOP product is dangled sparkling in front of them on the Teevee next fall. And yes, we will have a real campaign on our hands.
The people trying to apply logic, history and creative thinking in terms of the question of electability have a far better chance of nailing it than anyone latching onto any of those particular polls.