Obama Fatigue - 48% Hearing Too Much About Him

Sen Barack Obama (D-IL) has received a lot of press coverage in this election -- is it starting to catch up with him? Close to half (48%) of Pew's interviewees say that they have been hearing too much about Sen Obama lately. And by a slight, but statistically significant margin - 22% to 16% - people say that recently they have a less rather than more favorable view of the Democratic nominee. In contrast, if anything, Pew's respondents said they want to hear more, not less about the Republican candidate. Just 26% in the poll said they had heard too much about Sen John McCain (R-AZ), while a larger number (38%) reported that they had heard too little about the Republican candidate. However, as for Obama, a slight plurality reports that recently they have come to have a less favorable view of McCain rather than a more favorable view of him - (23% to 18%). While Obama has dominated McCain as the candidate citizens say they have heard the most about in the news, roughly equal numbers say that they are aware of commercials on behalf of each candidate. About six-in-ten have seen commercials for both candidates. Most of those who are aware of Obama's commercials say they are mostly positive messages about the candidate (38%), while fewer (13%) characterize them as negative messages about McCain. The balance of opinion about McCain's commercials is the opposite - a plurality (31%) sees them as negative messages about his opponent, with fewer (19%) describing them as positive ads.