Edwards, Obama building up national leads as Democrats sweep Rasmussen polls

A Rasmussen poll released last Friday has Barack Obama leading Rudy Giuliani by 5% (47-42) and Fred Thompson by 11% (49-38). Two weeks ago, he also led Giuliani by 5, but his edge against Thompson was only 6%. Yet another Rasmussen poll released Sunday shows that, just as he is rapidly declining in national primary numbers, John Edwards is looking increasingly stronger in general election polls. Rasmussen puts Edwards with a 7% lead against John McCain (47-40) and 17% against Fred Romney (52-35). A month ago, Edwards led by 4 and 12 respectively.

This latest round of polling did not include Clinton, but she also leads all GOPers in the latest Rasmussen polls that tested her. In fact, Rasmussen's latest national polls have all 3 major Democrats winning every single match-up against every single Republican.

As for the Republican numbers, the fact that Romney has such a low name recognition accounts for why he does much more poorly than his Republican rivals in general election polls, but it cannot explain why he has negative trendlines. Furthermore, these two polls show that 41% of respondents have a favorable impression of Romney, versus 42% unfavorable - a dismal showing for someone who is just entering the public's consciousness. Fred Thompson's numbers are also worrisome: 37-41.

But most stunning has to be Giuliani's evolution. Rasmussen notes that he started off the year with 70% of voters having a favorable impression of him. That declined throughout the year, and went under 50% for the first time 3 weeks ago. In the poll released Friday, Giuliani's favorable rating has reached its all-time low of 44%. That this does not at all look like an outlier and that there has been such a gradual evolution throughout the year suggests that something might be up here.