Poll: Obama Is Most-Liked Candidate Since Reagan

Barack Obama is the most well-liked first-term presidential candidate in 28 years, New York Times/CBS polls found. More than half of voters, 53%, have a favorable impression of the Illinois senator, a 10-point increase over last month. And though John McCain’s approval ratings held steady, voters with a negative opinion of him increased 10 points, to 45%.

Voters who changed their minds say the debates were a major factor. They also gave Sarah Palin as a reason for those newly negative opinions. The Alaska governor herself now has a 41% negative rating, the highest of any vice presidential candidate in history. But positive opinion of Joe Biden has risen to 50%.
(More Election 2008 stories.)