Ben Smith from Politico received an email from a Republican consultant (and friend of his) who recently conducted a focus group in an upper Midwestern state. The focus group was shown an all-out McCain attack ad. The result?:
Yes, the spot worked. Yes, they believed the charges against Obama. Yes, they actually think he's too liberal, consorts with bad people and WON'T BE A GOOD PRESIDENT...but they STILL don't give a f***. They said right out, "He won't do anything better than McCain" but they're STILL voting for Obama.
Matthew Yglesias of Think Progress:
One noticeable pattern throughout this series of debates is that the pundits have given McCain higher marks than the voters have. The key signpost of this is that a lot of liberal pundits have consistently come away surprised by how poorly McCain fares in the snap polls and the day-later reactions.
