At least among Democrats, Senator Barack Obama does not appear to have been hurt significantly by the controversy surrounding his former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. According to Gallup’s daily tracking poll, his lead in the Democratic primary race has actually increased since the controversy erupted. While more people in a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll had a negative opinion of Jeremiah Wright (32 percent) than a positive one (4 percent), most Americans weren’t familiar with him. Forty-eight percent of poll respondents either said that they did not recognize Wright’s name or said they did not know enough about him to have an opinion, including 49 percent of whites and 46 percent of African Americans. In a separate Pew poll, 75 percent of Republicans said they were personally offended by Wright’s sermons, as did 52 percent of independents and 43 percent of Democrats.* Still, a slight majority (51 percent) said Obama’s handling of the controversy had been excellent or good, compared to 42 percent who said it had been fair or poor. *Sample: those who had heard a lot or a little about the sermons (84 percent of total number surveyed). Source: The Pew Organization, March 2008.