Two more quick points about that CBS/New York Times poll. First, to follow up on something I mentioned yesterday, for all the talk about Edwards hurting himself among Iowans by taking on Hillary, there's no evidence of it in his favorability ratings. Seventy-three percent of Iowa voters have a favorable impression of him and only twelve percent have an unfavorable impression. That's pretty similar to Obama (72-8) and significantly better than Hillary (59-20).
The second thing is that Isaac makes a good point over at The Plank about Giuliani and social issues, which the Times's says seem less likely to hurt him now. Like Isaac, I have the opposite interpretation. By a margin of 38-30 over Romney in Iowa, and 39-35 over Romney in New Hampshire, voters see Rudy as the most electable candidate. And yet the poll shows him trailing Romney 27-15 in Iowa and 34-16 in New Hampshire. My sense is that voters there are saying: "We know his liberal social views make him the most electable candidate, but we don't care. We prefer someone more conservative." It's a significant finding because voters in Iowa and New Hampshire presumably know more about Giuliani's social views than voters anywhere else, outside maybe the New York metro area.
--Noam Scheiber