NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- John McCain had a bad week.
True, there seems to be a presidential survey coming out every 15 seconds or so. Still, when the results are so closely tied to a tangible news issue, the candidates and their handlers had better pay attention.
As Wall Street crumbled, the public's opinion of Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain "turned somewhat more negative last week," according to the Pew weekly News Interest Index, an ongoing project of the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
As the voters' interest in economic news continued to climb, their views on the Arizona senator slipped. In a survey held from Sept. 19-22, "fully half of the public said their opinion of the GOP nominee had changed in the past few days, with 30% saying their opinion has become less favorable."
The Pew results, released Thursday, also underscore how quickly the voters can change their minds.
Perhaps the most important polls will surface following the presidential debates -- whenever they happen to occur.
If McCain and Sen. Barack Obama ignore the results, they do so at their own peril.