I hate to say I told you so, Republicans (not really) but I told you so. Your attacks on Barack Obama’s associations aren’t working. In fact, the opposite is true. McCain and Palin’s unfavorable ratings are rising and Obama’s favorables are at an all-time high since the attacks began. Thanks, GOP.

Before we go any further, these numbers are taken from a poll done by the New York Times and CBS, so I know some will dismiss it immediately as “liberal media bias.” You are free to leave at this point.

Now back to the polling data. About McCain’s attempts to tie Obama to William Ayers, the Times found this:

“After several weeks in which the McCain campaign sought to tie Mr. Obama to William Ayers, 64 percent of voters said that they had either read or heard something about the subject. But a majority said they were not bothered by Mr. Obama’s background or past associations. Several people said in follow-up interviews that they felt that Mr. McCain’s attacks on Mr. Obama were too rooted in the past, or too unconnected to the nation’s major problems.”

On the issue of favorability:

“Mr. McCain was viewed unfavorably by 41 percent of voters, and favorably by 36 percent. Ms. Palin’s favorability rating is now 32 percent, down 8 points from last month, and her unfavorable rating climbed nine percentage points to 41 percent. Mr. Obama’s favorability rating, by contrast, is now at 50 percent, the highest recorded for him thus far by The Times and CBS News.”

To show how poorly this attack strategy has worked, Palin’s favorable rating is now only 8 points ahead of President Bush, who is at an all-time low of 24%. Nice job Republicans, keep it up.

To show you how out of touch Republicans are at this point, take a look at this chart showing voter’s responses when asked which candidate has spent more time explaining his positions or attacking his opponent:

Almost half of the Republicans surveyed actually think that McCain has spent more time explaining his positions, talk about living in an alternate reality.

But then again, these are the same Mensa members that we see in line at McCain/Palin rallies, never mind.