End of the Palin Effect

The Panic of 2008 seems to have had a unifying effect across the country. This from NYT's Mike Nizza on a new poll from the American Research Group,

 which asked Americans a number of questions on an issue that has been dominating headlines of late. One of them -- "Do you think the national economy is getting better, staying the same, or getting worse? -- was answered thusly:

"No Americans say that the national economy is getting better, 13% say it is staying the same, and 82% say the national economy is getting worse."

In other words, zilch, zero, nothing (apart from the 5 percent who remain undecided). Not one glass half-full among the 1,100 people surveyed. The ruling was unanimous, and also obvious -- economic news is routinely bad these days...But it was certainly a rare moment of complete agreement in public opinion.

The events of last week have also been a boon for Barack Obama. All he needed was the first U.S. financial panic in three-quarters of a century, but with the outlook for the U.S. economy worsening precipitously in just one week, Obama has regained the front-runner status with 43 days left until election day.

The following two charts showing overall polling trends -- the first from Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight.com and the second from Pollster.com -- both reveal sharp turns in voter sentiment, first following Sarah Palin's coming out night during the Republican National Convention, and, second, after last week's financial news.

(Hat tip: Ryan Schick)