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Fresh polls show that he has been unable to convert weeks of extensive media coverage into a widened lead. And some prominent Democrats whose support could boost his campaign are still not enthusiastic about his candidacy. Several new surveys show that Obama is in a tight race or even losing ground to Republican John McCain, both nationally and in two important swing states, Colorado and Minnesota. One new poll offered a possible explanation for his troubles: A minority of voters see Obama as a familiar figure with whom they can identify. Many voters still seem to be puzzling over who...

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Oh boy one has to believe that Huckabee will be getting some blow-back from this. These push polls have even brought out the South Carolina Attorney General to make this statement: “Last evening the Associated Press reported that that an out-of-state special interest group, Common Sense Issues, had launched a massive push polling effort disparaging John McCain and other candidates for president. In their push poll, Common Sense Issues makes several misleading claims regarding John McCain’s record.“Allow me to set the record straight. In the U.S. Senate, John McCain has been an unwavering voice for the rights of the unborn....

Only a few hours separates us from the results of the Iowa caucuses, and at least one campaign has decided to put them to good use. Push-polling calls have gone out to Iowans warning of the troubles voters will face from an Edwards or Obama nomination. Now who could have paid for those calls? Iowa Democrats received a new round of anonymous phone calls this week, under the guise of opinion poll research, slamming former Sen. John Edwards and Sen. Barack Obama, in the latest display of the ugly side of this year's presidential campaign. Even before the first vote...

One of the big stories in the Republican presidential race last week was a series of controversial survey calls in Iowa and New Hampshire that asked respondents some pointed questions about Mitt Romney. Specifically, voters in the first two Republican contests received calls with negative messages about the former governor’s religion, his Vietnam-era military deferments, his sons’ lack of military service, and the notion that Mormons believe the Book of Mormon is superior to the Bible. The question, of course, was who was responsible for the calls. For one thing, they may have been illegal — as the Union Leader...

Whodunnit? Here is why it is unlikely that Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson or any top-tier challenger to Mitt Romney had anything to do with the wave of anti-Mormon, Anti-Romney phone calls in Iowa and New Hampshire. Think about the reward. Would the questions asked by the firm elicit any meaningful data for the campaign who wrote them? Would the relative reward of a few dozen voters changing their minds about Romney because of his Mormonism be worth the avalanche of embarassment and ill-will that would accrue to the candidate who authorized the phone calls? Political consultants aren't stupid -- they...

From the desk of Todd Harris, communications director to Fred Thompson: "There is no room for this kind of smut in a Republican primary election. While there are certainly issues our campaigns disagree on, we are united by far more than that which divides us. One of our candidates is going to emerge from this process as the standard bearer for all Republicans, and we will need a united party to win next year. This kind of robo-dial bigotry which tears down Republicans today will only serve to prop up Democrats tomorrow. It has to end and end now."

The flurry of candidate announcements in an open race has spurred media attention to the 2008 presidential contest even earlier in the electoral cycle than usual. But followers of early poll readings on the relative viability of declared candidates should bear in mind some caveats. Early frontrunners for the Republican nomination in most of the past seven open contests have gone on to win the nomination, but this year there is not one but two GOP frontrunners. On the Democratic side, even when there is a clear frontrunner as there is this year with Sen. Hillary Clinton, the early polls...

Maybe it is Giuliani time, after all. Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has pulled far ahead of Arizona Sen. John McCain in a hypothetical head-to-head GOP presidential primary matchup, according to the latest NEWSWEEK Poll—beating McCain 59 percent to 34 percent. Giuliani's lead over former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is even more formidable (70 percent to 20 percent). But perhaps the best news for the man once dubbed "America's Mayor" for his role in seeing New York through the 9/11 attacks is the lead he's opened up on his potential Democratic rivals for the White House. According to...

Rudy Building Lead Over McCain... [Rich Lowry] ...according to the new Fox News Poll. Asked who would they support in a Republican primary if the choices were McCain or Giuliani, 56% of Republicans said Giuliani, and 31% said McCain. 50% of Independents said Giuliani, and 27% said McCain. This represents a big bump for Giuliani since early December. Then, 42% of Republicans said they would pick Giuliani, 40% McCain, and 35% of Independents said they would support Giuliani while 41% said they would go with McCain. 02/15 05:34 PM

The former mayor leads Clinton by five percentage points, 48 to 43. The Republican Giuliani holds a comfortable lead in the “red states,” topping Clinton by 17 percentage points, and he is even with Clinton in “blue states.” Giuliani has strong support among Republican voters, with 40 percent saying they are likely to vote for him. Arizona Senator John McCain trails with 18 percent, followed by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has said he may not run if Giuliani holds a commanding lead. As for the Democrats, Clinton has the support of 38 percent of those polled. Illinois Senator...

While public polls have been few and far between in the Connecticut Democratic primary, reports of "push polling" have been bubbling up through the blogosphere. Some of the most recent have been quite detailed and worthy of further discussion, if only because, from what I can tell, these do not deserve the "push poll" label. Rather, the calls described appear to be internal campaign polls testing negative messages.

Current poll: "A time for choosing: It appears that a significant number of our members are so disgusted with the GOP's failure to secure our borders against illegal aliens that they are willing to risk all by voting them out of office, even if it means Pelosi, Reid, Hillary, et al, are allowed to take charge. Is this the best course of action or should we be working harder than ever to hold the line and actually try to make a difference by getting more constitutionally-minded conservatives elected? Are you willing to give it all up or are you more...

In May 2003, I suggested in this space that the exit polls would need more than a makeover. I also questioned the wisdom of putting veteran exit pollster Warren Mitofsky in charge. Shortly thereafter, I received a telephone call from Mitofsky, who, naturally, expressed his disagreement with my opinions. Later in the year, I heard from Mitofsky again when I criticized his exit polls in the California gubernatorial recall election. I’ll say this for him: Mitofsky is a great flack. And he must be a great salesman. Anyone who can talk the networks into giving him $10 million for the...

If pop culture is a reflection of a nation's values, then the signs of a Bush victory were there a long time ago for anyone to see. There've been two runaway box-office surprises this year: Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" and Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ." The Bush political team intuitively understood the tone of the U.S. voters much better than the media did. To be honest, I still don't quite understand how certified media junkies like me could have been so wrong. I read the New York Times (NYT: news, chart, profile) and the New Yorker religiously. I...

The Daschle campaign, desperate at finding itself behind in the polls, has resorted to an especially low form of "push polling." Our correspondent reports: am here in Brookings, South Dakota [and] just thought I'd pass on the following information if you haven't seen or heard it. The Daschle campaign is having people claiming to be pastors and ministers calling local South Dakotans asking them whether the fact the "John Thune is attacking Linda Daschle" bothers them or makes them uncomfortable. When one constituent peppered the "pastor" with questions about his hometown, where he lived - it was apparent this "pastor"...

The campaign of Democratic congressional candidate Nick Clooney said it isn't behind recorded messages going out to Northern Kentucky homes, one which says his Republican opponent, Geoff Davis, supports a national sales tax. "We don't know anything about it and certainly don't condone that," Clooney campaign spokesman B.J. Neidhardt said. Davis spokesman Justin Brasell said he was made aware of the messages, which purport to be polls, Friday. Brasell said the campaign received copies of the messages from two voters' answering machines. Davis, from Hebron, and Clooney, from Augusta, are facing each other for the 4th Congressional District seat, from...

BLOOMINGTON -- Political polls are "phony" and should not just be disregarded, but banned, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Alan Keyes argued Monday. "They (polls) are manipulative and degrading and damaging to our political system, and they should not be allowed when it comes to the actual time frame in which people are making up their minds," Keyes said during a meeting with The Pantagraph's editorial board. His comments came in response to questions about a Pantagraph/St. Louis Post-Dispatch poll published Monday showing him trailing Democrat Barack Obama 68 percent to 23 percent. The survey, released 43 days before the election,...

According to a March 10 editorial masquerading as a news story in The Washington Post, the paper's most recent poll found that a majority of Americans "reject(s) amending the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex marriages in favor of allowing states to make their own laws." Having just seen a CBS News poll suggesting an entirely opposite public sentiment, my first reaction was to compare the wording of the respective questions. My suspicions were confirmed. The Post led respondents to its desired answer by manipulating the question. CBS News straightforwardly asked: "Would you favor or oppose an amendment to the U.S....

CBS proves Gray Lady slants its opinion polls Posted: March 19, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com Earlier this week, CBS New posted the results of the most recent New York Times-CBS News poll on its website. It was doubly good news for President Bush. CBS broke the results down into two articles carrying the following headlines: "Poll: Bush Moves Ahead of Kerry" and "Poll: Few Favor Same-Sex Marriage." The results posed a challenge for the Times. Do they report the good news for President Bush on its front page, as they generally do with their other polls or do they reach...

Tell us if you approve of President George W. Bush's overall job performance and whether you think he will be re-elected in the upcoming election. Click the "Vote" button at the bottom to submit your results and see others' responses, then click here to see how Americans nationwide answered these and other questions in this week's NEWSWEEK poll.

Loaded question - but - SOUND OFF--Did CBS give in to right-wing pressure when it cancelled its miniseries on Ronald and Nancy Reagan? Scroll down page to "Sound Off".

<p>More Michigan voters want a new face in the White House than want President Bush re-elected, a new voter survey shows.</p> <p>A Detroit News/Local4/ Mitchell Poll of 600 likely voters found that 49 percent want someone other than Bush elected next year, compared to 44 percent who favor a second term.</p>

<p>Something strange happened during the 2000 Gore-Bush election fiasco you may have missed.</p> <p>CNN, which was running 24-hour special election coverage, hosted a program with conservative columnist Bob Novak shortly after the disputed election results were returned. Novak was adamant that Al Gore should quit trying to steal the election and concede. To bolster his point, he brought up the results of CNN.com's public-opinion poll "Should Al Gore concede?" Poll results showed that a full 89 percent of the thousands of people who had visited CNN.com and voted had agreed -- Gore should give up the ghost.</p>