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A new Newsweek poll was released today that showed 40% of those surveyed now have a negative opinion of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, and 41% said that Obama was being hurt by Rev. Wright.

Not the poll, itself, but the way that it is being reported is a fine case of negative journalism. Some news outlets have pointed to the fact that 24% of those surveyed said that they thought Obama was an elitist. What they don’t bother to mention is that 56% of those asked felt that he was down to earth.

The survey was split on Obama’s “bitter” comment. 42% of those asked said it made them view him less favorably, and 42% said that it made no difference. It is fair to say from this result that his comments didn’t help him, but I personally still think that any damage they might cause him will limited to Pennsylvania. People did respond by a margin of 52%-29% that it didn’t make any difference to them if Obama didn’t wear a flag pin.

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A problem for Obama is that he still can’t get rid of the idea that he is a Muslim, 52% of those surveyed said that he isn’t a Muslim, but 26% didn’t know what he was and 13% weren’t sure.

That means that 39% of those asked either had no idea, or the wrong idea about him. This is a fertile group that the GOP will be looking to exploit this fall. These same 39% were also asked about Obama’s former PASTOR Rev. Wright. How stupid can a group of people be to question a man’s religion when they are asked about his pastor?

On the Wright question, 46% of those asked said that Obama’s relationship with Wright made no difference, and 41% said that it made them view him less favorably.

It is natural for a frontrunner’s negatives to go up. Obama is not perfect, and some people will not support him. The media is playing up all the negatives in these numbers, and ignoring the one real problem Obama has.

It seems that his campaign has the overestimated the intelligence of a portion of the American electorate. They need to pound it into people’s heads once and for all that Barack Obama is a Christian, not a Muslim, before Barack finds himself Swiftboated this fall.

Newsweek poll:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/134254?tid=relatedcl