Two Polls of Note; Both Bad for Republicans

The first poll, from CNN, shows the overwhelming majority of Americans disapprove of the president’s veto of the Iraq Funding measure.

A majority of the U.S. public disapproves of President Bush’s decision to veto a war spending bill that called for U.S. troops to leave Iraq in 2008, according to a CNN poll released Tuesday.

The poll found that 54 percent of Americans opposed Bush’s May 1 veto, while 44 percent backed the president’s decision to kill the $124 billion bill.

The second, from Newsweek, shows that Democratic presidential candidates beat Republican presidential candidates in every head to head match up.  I still think we could run a ham sandwich against this crowd and win.

While the poll has some high marks for Clinton, it’s not all good news. Though the New York senator and former first lady aims to project an aura of inevitability that she will win the Democratic nomination, Obama beats the leading Republicans by larger margins than any other Democrat: besting Giuliani 50 to 43 percent, among registered voters; beating McCain 52 to 39 percent, and defeating Romney 58 percent to 29 percent.

Like Obama, Edwards defeats the Republicans by larger margins than Clinton does: the former Democratic vice-presidential nominee outdistances Giuliani by six points, McCain by 10 and Romney by 37, the largest lead in any of the head-to-head matchups. Meanwhile, Sen. Clinton wins 49 percent to 46 percent against Giuliani, well within the poll’s margin of error; 50 to 44 against McCain; and 57 to 35 against Romney.

We are a long way from November 2008, so take the second one with a grain of salt.  But on the first poll, its clear the majority of the American people agree with the Democrats over President Bush.  If a 51-48 percent win, as Bush had in 2004, is a “mandate,” then the 10 point margin in this poll must constitute a landslide.