The first nationwide survey since Barack Obama returned from his highly publicized travels in Europe and the Middle East finds that the trip had little or no impact on the U.S. presidential race.
The findings from the new Rasmussen Reports survey taken Tueday night are consistent with data from our daily Presidential Tracking Poll. On Monday morning, the Tracking Poll update noted that Obama’s brief trip-related bounce has vanished and there has been little change in the race.
Twenty-four percent (24%) of voters say the trip makes them more likely to vote for the Democratic candidate, while virtually the same number (23%) say it makes them less likely to vote for him.
Over half (52%) say the trip – despite saturation media coverage including one-on-one interviews with the anchors for the three major television networks – will have no impact on their votes at all. (The idea that the media is trying to help Obama win in November has grown by five percentage points over the past month).
A CNN poll released later found similarly that the trip did little to move either candidate’s numbers.

Interestingly, while Democrats and Republicans responded along partisan lines to Obama’s trip, unaffiliated voters are more negative than positive about it. Among unaffiliateds, 30% say the trip makes them less likely to vote for Obama, while 23% say it will make them more likely to do so. The rest say it will have no impact on their vote.

While 25% of all voters say the trip makes Obama more qualified to be president, 57% disagree. This is a slight improvement over how voters responded to the first leg of Obama’s trip -- visits to Afghanistan and Iraq where he conferred with U.S. military commanders. In that survey, 63% of Americans said the trip did not make him any more qualified to be president. Less than a third (32%) believed Obama would learn from his trip to Iraq.

Controversy has surrounded a visit Obama planned to wounded soldiers in a military hospital in Germany, but 72% say such a visit by a campaigning politician is appropriate. Fourteen percent (14%) disagree.

Obama planned the trip, which included stops in the two war zones, Israel, Germany, France and England, as a way to enhance his virtually non-existent foreign policy portfolio. Prior to his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004, the 46-year-old Democrat has been a community activist in Chicago, a law professor and an Illinois state senator.

Despite complaints by John McCain’s campaign about the media coverage of the trip, it appears it did not do the political damage to him that the Republican candidate feared.

The latest Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll; He now attracts 45% of the vote while McCain earns 43%. When "leaners" are included, it’s Obama 48% and McCain 46%. This is roughly where the race stood prior to the trip.

Separately, in a survey taken midway through the trip, 45% said Obama is too inexperienced to be president, although that number has been trending slightly lower in recent weeks.

Immediate reaction to the Democrat’s only major speech during his travels – last Thursday in Berlin – was generally positive. Over half of Americans (55%) rated the speech good or excellent, including nearly a third of Republicans (32%).

Obama, who is noted for his speaking skills, received similar marks in early March when he gave a highly-publicized speech about race relations in America. The speech was prompted by news reports about controversial remarks made by his minister, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

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