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POLITICS

An Obama Endorsement – A Breath of Life or a Kiss of Death?

On a list of six prominent Democratic and Republican politicians, Americans rank President Obama as the one who carries the most weight – positively and negatively – when it comes to an endorsement.

According to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey, 29% of Adults say an endorsement from the president is the one most likely to make them vote for a candidate.

But even more (45%) say Obama is the politician who makes them least likely to vote for a candidate he endorses. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

As for the others on the list, 16% rate an endorsement by former President George W. Bush as the most likely to make them support a candidate, followed by former President Bill Clinton (15%), ex-Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (14%), New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie (5%) and Vice President Joe Biden (1%).

When it comes to an endorsement as a negative, 25% say one from Palin makes them least likely to support a candidate. Nineteen percent (19%) say the same of Bush, while three percent (3%) and two percent (2%) respectively feel that way about Biden and Clinton.  Christie, a newcomer to the national stage following his election last November, statistically earns a zero on this question.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The survey of 832 Likely Voters was conducted on October 11-12, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

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