With just two days to go before the U.S. Democratic Party Pennsylvania primary on Tuesday, Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton continued to trade sharp barbs.
Gary Langer, director of polling at ABC News, told CTV's Question Period on Sunday more and more voters are saying that the campaign for the nomination has become increasingly negative.
"When we ask those who say it's gotten negative who they blame, it's Clinton rather than Obama by a four to one ratio," Langer said.
During campaign stops this weekend, New York Sen. Clinton told voters to look beyond what she called the "whoop dee do" speechmaking of her opponent.
However, Illinois Sen. Obama took not-so-indirect shots about ability of the former first lady and sitting New York senator to adhere to the truth.
"She's taken different positions at different times on issues as fundamental as trade, or even the war, to suit the politics of the moment. And when she gets caught at it, the notion is, well, you know what, that's just politics. That's how it works in Washington. You can say one thing here and say another thing there," he said.
But the heightened rhetoric of the candidates may be considered tame when compared to what their campaign supporters are saying. One of Obama's supporters said Clinton's counter-factual statements about being under sniper fire during a trip to Bosnia in the 1990s takes away from her "moral authority" to commemorate the sacrifices of fallen soldiers. A Clinton supporter shot back that Obama is being "hypocritical" by saying he would be above the fray of negative campaigning.
Langer said despite the negativity of the campaign most Democratic voters don't support the idea that the campaign should stop, even if Clinton loses Pennsylvania.
"Most Democrats don't buy into the notion that a long campaign is going to hurt them in the long run," he said.
Polls suggest, however, that it is unlikely Clinton will lose the state. She has consistently held a five to 10-point lead in the polls, although only a few weeks ago, some polls had her leading by as much as 20 points.
On Sunday, the Obama campaign suggested that keeping Clinton to a single-digit victory should be considered an Obama win.
Despite being touted as the early front-runner in the Democratic race for the presidential nomination, Clinton has faced a tough battle against Obama, a rookie senator.
He leads the race in pledged delegates, popular vote, and number of states won during the primary season. Many analysts say that if Clinton loses Pennsylvania, she will likely have to drop out of the race.
Langer said ironically, Clinton probably has a better campaign to win the presidency than to win the nomination.
Her team didn't anticipate this tough fight with Obama, but his change message has resonated with Democrats, he said.
