Most voters (55%) say the tone of this year’s presidential campaign is about the same as in other recent election years, despite complaints from Barack Obama’s side and some in the media that John McCain has been campaigning negatively.

Only 23% say this election cycle is more negative than most, and nearly as many (20%) say it’s more positive than in recent years, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey (see crosstabs).

Seventy-nine percent (79%) of voters say the media report more on negative campaigning than on issues. Only 11% say the media report on issues more.

Given this kind of coverage, 38% say McCain’s campaign has been generally negative, while 30% say that of Obama’s. But more voters (39%) believe the Democrat’s campaign has been generally positive versus just 21% who believe that of McCain’s. The rest – 30% for Obama, 41% for McCain – rate the two campaigns as somewhere in between.

Republicans are more critical of their candidate’s campaign, though, than Democrats are of Obama’s. While 64% of Democrats say Obama has run a generally positive campaign, only 38% of GOP voters say that of McCain’s. Over half of voters from both parties say the opposing candidate’s campaign has been generally negative.

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McCain and Obama remain very close in both the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll and Electoral College projections.

Voters have been highly skeptical of the media’s coverage of the campaign in several recent surveys. Earlier this month, echoing findings from June, 69% said reporters try to help the candidate they want to win, and this year by a nearly five-to-one margin voters believe they are trying to help Obama.

Over half of voters also believe media bias is more of a problem than big campaign contributions, despite concerns routinely raised about the influence of lobbyists and special interests. Nearly three out of five voters (57%) believe it is impossible to run for the presidency without the help of lobbyists and special interest groups anyway.

In the new survey, voters are fairly evenly divided on whether it is possible for a candidate to win an election without criticizing his opponent.

But then voters themselves don’t have that high an opinion of most politicians. In a separate survey released today, a plurality of voters (41%) say a used car salesman is more ethical than a member of Congress. Thirty-one percent (31%) have the opposite view. Except for GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, the other three candidates on the two major national tickets are currently U.S. senators.

The McCain campaign’s airing of commercials early in the summer mocking Obama’s celebrity status is seen as the first blunting of the Democrat’s bid for the White House. Since then, Democrats have been quick to complain about any Republican commercials or comments criticizing Obama, comparing them to ads run in 2004 by veterans who served on Swift boats with John Kerry during the Vietnam War. Those ads, sharply critical of Kerry, were seen as instrumental in his failure to defeat President Bush.

Women voters, who nationally fall more into Obama’s camp than men, view his campaign as far more positive than McCain’s. Forty-four percent (44%) rate the Democrat’s campaign as generally positive versus 17% who feel that way about the Republican’s. Forty percent (40%) say McCain has run a generally negative campaign, but only 22% believe that of Obama.

Men voters, on the other hand, view both campaigns as more negative than positive. Thirty-eight percent (38%) say Obama has run a generally negative campaign, and 35% say the same of McCain. While 33% say Obama’s campaign has been generally positive, just 25% feel that way about McCain’s.

Perhaps significantly given fears that racism might be at play given Obama’s historic status as the first African-American presidential candidate of a major national party, black voters view the tone of the current campaign more positively than whites. Fifty-two percent (52%) of blacks say this year’s election is more positive than most, but just 16% of white voters agree.

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