Morning Polls

Some polls out this morning, mostly from Rasmussen:

- Edwards would beat McCain by 4 in a general election, down from a 13 point advantage two months ago. Is McCain coming back?

- Apparently not: A poll in his home state of Arizona shows that McCain is viewed favorably by only 48% of voters, and when matched up against Clinton, McCain runs more poorly than Giuiliani and Thompson. And when matched up against Republicans, Clinton does worse in Arizona than in most other states polled by Rasmussen. While she was competitive in almost every state, she gets trounced in Arizona, losing by 10 against McCain, 11 against Giuliani and 17 against Thompson!

- And in a result that could worry the Clinton campaign if it is confirmed in the coming months, Gallup reports that Democratic voters are looking for a candidate who can bring change more than a candidate with extensive experience. This opposition is certainly the main faultline between the Obama and Clinton camps, the former trying to portray their candidate as a Washington outsider who can reform the way government runs, and the latter relying on her establishement credentials:

Which will be more important to you when deciding which candidate to support for president in next year's election -- [ROTATED: that the candidate has experience getting things done in the current system in Washington, (or) that the candidate has a strong desire to change the system for getting things done in Washington]? The results of this forced-choice question were lopsided in favor of "change" -- 73% of Democrats said changing the system would be more important to their decision about whom to support, while only 26% opted for "experience."

And more importantly, Clinton's charge that Obama is inexperienced might not hurt Obama at all, after all: Only 44% of voters say that limited experience of Washington is undesirable in a candidate, with 18% saying it is a desirable attribute!