Yesterday the Wall Street Journal and NBC News released a poll which was taken soon after Senator Clinton suspended her campaign(meaning that the Democratic divide would still have been sharper then than it is now.) Overall, Senator Obama leads Senator McCain 47% to 41% which is beyond the poll’s margin of error. If you delve into that number you find some interesting statistics such as that not only has Obama maintained his lead with African-Americans(83%-7%) but he also leads McCain in groups that all of the pundits thought he would be weak with such as Hispanics(62%-28%), women(55% – 33%), Catholics(47%-40%), independents(41%-36%), blue collar workers(47%-42%), and voters who supported Sen. Clinton in the primaries(61%-19%.)
However, it isn’t all good news for Obama. McCain leads him among white men 55% to 35% and among suburban white women 44% to 38%(though Obama leads with white women in general 46%-38%.)
What I take away from the poll is that Americans want change so badly that they’re willing to bridge some old divides if that’s what it takes to make it happen and that they simply don’t think that John McCain represents change due to his support for the war and the fact that he voted with Bush 95% of the time in 2007.
