Bottom Line: Foreign Policy Slows Obama
George says foreign policy is Obama's single biggest hurdle to the White House.
July 15, 2008— -- With Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., saying that the war in Afghanistan would be at the top of his foreign policy agenda, and all the back and forth with Republican Sen. John McCain on whether to set a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal, the latest ABC News poll was dominated by foreign policy.
Chief Washington correspondent George Stephanopoulos talked with "World News" anchor Charlie Gibson about the poll.
GIBSON: On the foreign policy issue, it's not particularly good news for Barack Obama.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, it shows that questions about his experience in foreign policy are probably the single biggest hurdle between Barack Obama and the White House. Look at this question about knowledge on world foreign affairs: 63 percent said John McCain is more knowledgeable, only 26 percent for Barack Obama.
And then, who do you trust to handle an unexpected foreign crisis (like the 3:00 a.m. phone call scenario that Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., raised in the Democratic primary): 50 (percent) John McCain, 41 (percent) Barack Obama. The Obama campaign knows that on this big foreign trip coming up, they have to show him doing the job to calm these questions.
GIBSON: But on the economy, much better news for Obama?
STEPHANOPOULOS: The single biggest hurdle for John McCain, between him and the White House right now; look at these numbers, 54 percent trust Barack Obama to handle the economy, only 35 percent trust John McCain (which is) a 19-point advantage. Every day of bad news on the economy ... the Obama campaign will never admit it ... but it's good news for his campaign.
GIBSON: All right, it's still a long way from election day, but we did ask about the horserace.
STEPHANOPOULOS: We have to ask that question.
GIBSON: And?
STEPHANOPOULOS: Among registered votes, Barack Obama has an eight-point lead, 50 to 42. But look at this number, trade it over to likely voters -- those most likely to vote -- it's down to 49 to 46, only a three-point lead. We dug into it, Charlie, and it shows that, you know, Barack Obama's most committed partisans, beyond African American voters, are young voters, voters under 30. In March, 66 percent of them said they would vote, no matter what -- that is down to 46 percent right now. Their enthusiasm has been dampened a bit over the course of this campaign.
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