Swampland - TIME.com

McCain's Negatives

Greg Sargent rightly points out that Hillary is not the only front-runner whose negatives suggest otherwise:

Hillary Clinton: Definitely would, 27%; Would consider, 26%; Definitely would not, 45%

John McCain: Definitely would, 12%; Would consider, 39%; Definitely would not, 47%

As you can see, McCain has edged higher than Hillary in the "definitely would not" category. WaPo comments that McCain "has become significantly less acceptable as a general-election candidate. A year ago, 28 percent of Americans said they 'definitely would not vote' for him if he were to become the Republican nominee." That's a jump of nearly 20 points.

I hadn't seen such concrete evidence that McCain's reputation has tarnished so badly. One wonders what, exactly, was the corrosive element. Sargent suspects his support for the surge, I would guess it's the war plus his general air of defensiveness and lack of energy -- and the lingering appearance of hypocrisy in his embrace of Bush. In any case, twenty points in a year is not an especially steep fall but it's a far one. The singing thing may have actually helped with the GOP base (if comments on right wing blogs are anything to go by; I suggest he consider delivering all his policy statements in song), but he does seem to be slipping with the core crowd of moderates who really want to like him, and who he can't win the general without.


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About Swampland

Ana Marie Cox

Ana Marie Cox is the founding editor of Wonkette and the author of the novel Dog Days. Read more

Joe Klein

Joe Klein is TIME's political columnist and author of six books, most recently Politics Lost. His weekly TIME column, "In the Arena," covers national and international affairs. In 2004 he won the National Headliner Award for best magazine column. Read more

Karen Tumulty

Senior Writer Karen Tumulty has been TIME's National Political Correspondent since 2001, and has also covered the White House and Congress for the magazine. A native of San Antonio, she is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and Harvard Business School, where her career choice has significantly lowered the average salary of her graduating class. But she gets lots of free magazines. Read more

Jay Carney

Jay Carney is TIME's Washington bureau chief. He has covered both the Clinton and Bush 43 White Houses, as well as Congress. Before coming to Washington, he spent three years reporting from TIME's Moscow bureau. In his next life, he would like to write for Sports Illustrated. Read more

Jay Newton-Small

Jay Newton-Small Jay Newton-Small covers politics for TIME. She has covered the Bush 43 White House and also Congress from the DeLay era to the present. And, yes, despite the misleading name SHE is a she. Read more

Michael Scherer

Michael Scherer is a correspondent in TIME's Washington bureau covering the 2008 presidential campaign. He has worked national assignments for Mother Jones magazine and Salon.com. Read more

Mike Murphy

Mike Murphy is a political consultant who helped elect more than a dozen GOP Senators and Governors including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney. In 2000, Murphy was a senior strategist for John McCain's presidential campaign. Read more

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