After being virtually tied with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for several months, Republican contender Rudy Giuliani now leads Clinton up 47% to 40% in the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
In the match-up of the frontrunners, this result marks a significant shift. For the last three months the two frontrunners have never been further apart than three percentage points. Last month, Giuliani and Clinton were separated by just a single point.
Senator Clinton fares modestly better against former Senator Fred Thompson. Clinton now has a three point edge over him, 46% to 43%. All four previous Clinton-Thomas have also been toss-ups.
The more Giuliani speaks, the more people seem to like him and the more Hillary Clinton speaks, the more people start to dislike her.
The slide in Mayor Giuliani's favorable rating seems to have bottomed out for now. After hitting a low of 50% favorable for two weeks in a row, he's now viewed favorably by 52%. Thompson is viewed favorably by 43%, bringing him back up to where he was in late July.
In contrast, Clinton's favorable numbers have dropped a bit. She is now viewed favorably by 45%. That’s the first time all year her ratings have dipped below the 47% mark. Clinton's unfavorables have always been high and are currently at 52%.
Giuliani has his faults and I am not "pitching" for him, but the fact that he has just surged on past Clinton speaks more, in my mind, to her personality and untrustworthiness as well as his moderate stances on some issues and toughness on Security and Terrorism.
At some point a person has to decide where their priorities lie and for many of us, National Security trumps almost everything else.
THOSE will be the voters, moderates and independents that ultimately will decide the 2008 elections.
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