New polls: Obama over McCain by 10, voters glum on economy

• Published May 21, 2008

The latest Reuters/Zogby poll has downer news about Americans on the economy and good news for Barack Obama, who now leads John McCain by a 47 percent to 37 percent margin.

The poll on the presidential race came out today as Obama’s big win in Oregon on Tuesday sank in. It ensured the Democrat has a majority of pledged party delegates at the August convention, no matter how well Hillary Clinton does in the few remaining primaries through June 3.

No need to go into the super-delegates story here, but it’s worth noting Zogby’s poll shows Clinton beating McCain by only 41 percent to 40 percent. That sort of dents the theory Clinton is more electable for Democrats, but it’s just one poll.

The Zogby poll also shows little effect by third-party candidates. It shows Obama beating Republican McCain by 10 points even with leftist Independent Ralph Nader and Libertarian Bob Barr factored in. Nader gets 4 percent and Barr gets 3 percent whether it’s Obama or Clinton.

And independents favor Obama 48 percent to 32 percent. The May 15-18 poll of 1,076 “likely voters” nationwide had an error margin of plus or minus 3 percent.

Pollster John Zogby’s other report, the economic-mood index, registered a score of 87.9, far below the baseline of 100 set last August. See details here.