Winning the Character Contest: McCain Over Obama Again

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel put together this interesting view of the public "perception of character" issues of past and current presidential candidates. Looking back, it makes me kind of sad. Even after 7 and a half years of economic policies that 70 to 80 percent of the public disagrees with, we still believe the Republican myths, and are about to make the same mistake again. Click picture for large view.

Daron Shaw, a University of Texas political scientist who helped the Bush campaign in 2000 and 2004, said, "The Republican tends to dominate leadership traits. The Democrat tends to dominate empathy traits." There's some evidence, he says, that "if Democrats can do well on leadership, or if Republicans can hold leadership and do OK on empathy, they win. The electoral payoff for doing well on the other guy's dimension is disproportionate."

Citing the comment by McCain's campaign manager that "this election is not about issues," the Obama camp has accused McCain of running a diversionary race, marked by ads and claims that have drawn frequent criticism from nonpartisan fact-checkers.

"His campaign has become nothing but a series of smears, lies, and cynical attempts to distract from the issues that matter to the American people," Obama's campaign manger David Plouffe said in a statement Friday.

So who's campaign tactic is working to sway public opinion? Things aren't looking good right now.