A new Rasmussen national poll finds 56% of Americans disagree with Obama's remarks calling small town Pennsylvanians bitter and clinging to G-d and their guns. Only 25% approve.

45% said Obama is out of touch with small-town Americans and his words show an elitist view of them. (Questions asked and results are here.)

But it may make more difference in the general election than the primary. Democrats are less offended by the remarks, and liberal democrats, even less so:

Democrats are fairly evenly divided—34% agree with Obama and 43% disagree. Generally, Obama supporters agree with him while Hillary Clinton’s supporters disagree.

A plurality of politically liberal voters—46%--agree with Obama’s statement while 33% disagree. Moderate voters take the opposite view and disagree by a 51% to 27% margin. Seventy-four percent (74%) of conservatives disagree with Obama’s statement, only 12% agree.

Republicans and Independents on the other hand: [More...]

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

Noam Schieber writes:

I'm . . . arguing that [Obama]'s almost certainly going to be the nominee, that that's not going to change even if Hillary spends the next several weeks unloading on him, that the only thing this course is going to affect are his chances in the general election, and that, even if Hillary did some how pummel him hard enough to wrest away the nomination, it would be close to worthless since she'd have generated so much ill-will toward her among Democrats.

(Emphasis supplied.) I have been completely amazed how little concern the "Creative Class" has shown towards the possibility of alienating Clinton supporters. Is anyone worried about how upset Clinton supporters will be if Clinton is viewed as having been pushed out of the race? If Florida and Michigan are not counted? If Obama and his supporters continually denigrate Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Legacy? Clearly Noam Scheiber does not give it a second thought.

I agree that Obama will be the nominee. And it is about time Obama AND his supporters start worrying about unifying the Party. The contempt for Clinton, for Bill Clinton and for her supporters is palpable from the "Creative Class" and the Obama campaign. Pretty soon, unless Obama and his supporters shape up, the question may be "is the nomination worthless to Barack Obama?"

By Big Tent Democrat

In a poll conducted entirely before BitterGate (the poll was conducted from April 6-10), the Susquehanna Univ. PA poll shows a close race with a very high number of undecideds - Clinton 40, Obama 37, Undecided 23. This is a large drop for Clinton from a poll from a month earlier when she led by 14. That said, even without taking into account BitterGate, this poll seems incredibly suspect to me. I'll explain on the flip:

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

In my view, along with Zogby, ARG is the worst pollster I know of. So this poll finding is not to be taken seriously. The reason I post it is because it shows a 20 point jump for Clinton. ARG last week had it tied at 45. Now it has Clinton 57 - Obama 37.

We'll watch for more reputable pollsters for PA polling. More . . .

By Big Tent Democrat

At TAPPED, the "Creative Class" defense of Obama's gaffe continues (psst, citing Harvard intellectual Robert Reich is not the answer either):

[A] salient quote from Bill Clinton's My Life:

If [Republicans] could cut funding for Medicare, Medicaid, education, and the environment, middle-class Americans would see fewer benefits from their tax dollars, feel more resentful paying taxes, and become even more receptive to their appeals for tax cuts and their strategy of waging campaigns on divisive social and cultural issues like abortion, gay rights, and guns.

The "Creative Class" reaction? "I do think Obama's words were poorly chosen, but I don't think they merit "Bittergate" as we're seeing it play out." Um, what part of Obama's Gaffe is left out? This:

So it's not surprising then that they [rural voters] get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

(Emphasis supplied.) Time for the "Creative Class" to give this up. It was a gaffe. Obama has expressed regret. Time to try and move on.

California chose 241 delegates to the DNC today, in accordance with the Feb. 5 primary results.

Hillary: 134 delegates
Obama: 105

There are also superdelegates and others:

The delegates at stake in caucuses Sunday represent only a portion of those who will attend the convention from California. Others will include 71 superdelegates, who range from members of Congress to former party leaders, and another group of 129 delegates who will be chosen next month, based on the statewide primary vote tally.

More...

Obama on the campaign trail today:

Shame on her," Obama said, echoing one of Clinton's own atacks on him. "Shame on her, she knows better."

"She’s running around talking about how this is an insult to sportsmen, how she values the Second Amendment, she's talking like she's Annie Oakley! Hillary Clinton's out there like she's on the duck blind every Sunday, she's packin' a six shooter! C'mon! She knows better. That's some politics being played by Hillary Clinton. I want to see that picture of her out there in the duck blinds."

Hillary's campaign responds:

Reactions to the Faith forum?

Here comes the media spin.

Some of my final thoughts. The forum was held at a religious university. That probably affected the audience reaction. He wasn't speaking to the voting public, but to the religious voters.

He did another hyperbole. Now, not only is he the one who has done the most for gays and the most against anti-semitism, he's the one who's done the most to reach out to churches.

He didn't answer several questions directly, such as whether life begins at conception and whether he supports people making end of life decisions. On the latter, he restricted his answer to whether people should be able to use painkillers if that might hasten their demise.

Update: Comments now closed.

The second section of our live blog on CNN's Faith Forum is below the fold. Use the regular comments section below if you want others to see your comments. More...

By Big Tent Democrat

Jeralyn is tied up right now, so we will start the Live Blog in the traditional fashion.

Campbell Brown is explaining that the questions will be deeply personal. Grrreat. Sheesh. Anyway, the Live Blog continues on the flip.

Clinton up first.

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

On MTP the Press, Bob Shrum said:

[Obama's] not running for sociologist in chief, he's running for president. So I think he wishes he hadn't said it quite this way . . .

Indeed. As I wrote:

Personally, I have never seen a pol say what Obama said. Political scientists, bloggers, intellectuals, ME, yes. But pols? Never. See, pols have a different job - get votes. Obama already has trouble getting white working class votes. This statement certainly does not help him.

Fighting for the "truth" of the statement would be simply bad politics. Obama has expressed his regrets and hopefully, will move on. Maybe his online "creative class" supporters will catch up soon.

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

Nico Pitney notes a Bill Clinton 1991 statement:

"The reason (George H. W. Bush's tactic) works so well now is that you have all these economically insecure white people who are scared to death," Clinton was quoted saying by the Los Angeles Times in September 1991.

Pitney thinks (Pitney clarifies that he takes no position on whether the statements are equivalent; of course others have taken that position when linking to Pitney) that is equivalent to what Barack Obama said about small town voters being bitter and clinging to their guns and their religion. I do not. Obama said:

So it's not surprising then that they [rural voters] get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

Bil Clinton was critiquing Republicans, not voters. Obama's statement was construed, and not unfairly, as critiquing voters. But more importantly, this line of defense for Barack Obama is incredibly foolish. Bob Casey got it right. Express regrets and move on. I hope other Obama supporters catch up soon. They are hurting Obama now.