Obama Means It

Voters believe Obama means what he says, whereas voters believe Clinton says what she thinks will get her elected. It baffles me with these continual poll finding that Clinton maintains a lead.

A new FOX News poll finds that voters are focusing on Iraq, terrorism and health care as they consider their vote for president. Looking at the candidates, more voters think Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Barack Obama say what they truly believe, even if it is unpopular, while a majority thinks Hillary Clinton usually says what she thinks will get her elected. Clinton is the only candidate where a majority of voters (55 percent) thinks she says what she thinks will get her elected, rather than what she truly believes (34 percent).

Opinion Dynamics Corp. conducted the national telephone poll of 900 registered voters for FOX News from May 15 to May 16. The poll has a 3-point error margin.

Democrats (60 percent) are much more likely than Republicans (45 percent) to say Iraq is extremely important to their vote — by a 15-point margin. Republicans are most likely to be motivated by the issue of terrorism.

Even with the early start, attention to the presidential election remains high. Many voters say they are extremely (27 percent) or very (35 percent) interested right now, although few (13 percent) say they have already made up their mind about which candidate to support.

Poll Standings

Proving yet again that Americans don't vote on candidates for the right reason, John Edwards has gone up five percent in the polls since the announcement last week of Elizabeth Edwards' cancer. Don't get me wrong, I feel for the family, who has already had their share of tragedy, but it's no reason to now throw my support to John Edwards. Edwards is now at 14 percent, but is still third in the standings.

In the same poll, Barack Obama is holding steady at 22 percent, still second to Hillary Clinton, who has 35 percent.