Today's primaries in Indiana and North Carolina could give the first hard evidence of whether Barack Obama has been hurt by the flap over the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Current polling reveals that most voters seem ready to accept Obama's renunciation of his former pastor, but a not-insignificant group reports that the controversy has damaged their opinion of the Illinois senator.

Polling numbers left heads spinning over the past several days, as different surveys showed divergent results. Obama led Hillary Rodham Clinton among Democratic primary voters in the latest CBS News/New York Times poll, 50 percent to 38 percent. Among Democratic voters in USA Today/Gallup's new survey, however, Clinton was ahead 51 percent to 44 percent. Similarly, an Associated Press/Ipsos Public Affairs poll [PDF] showed Clinton up 47 percent to 40 percent among Democrats.

What was more consistent across surveys, however, was the reaction Wright's statements provoked. Three-quarters of registered voters told CBS/NYT pollsters that his remarks have not affected their opinion of Obama. About six in 10 voters in that poll and half of respondents to the USA Today/Gallup poll said that they approved of the way Obama handled the Wright situation, but that left about a quarter in each survey who said he reacted poorly to the flare-up. And 15 percent of Democratic primary voters told CBS/NYT they were now less likely to vote for the Illinois senator -- along with 17 percent of independents and 25 percent of Republicans.

One of the reasons voters remain wary of Obama's association with Wright could be that many believe his decision to cut ties was made for political reasons rather than personal ones. A 47-percent plurality of CBS/NYT respondents who were aware of the controversy said that Obama denounced Wright "mainly because he thought it would help him politically," while just 34 percent believed that it was "mainly because he really disagreed with the things" that Wright said. Among voters who said they had been following the story, 26 percent told USA Today/Gallup pollsters that they think Obama agrees with his former pastor's controversial statements.

Many Americans seem to agree, however, that too much attention is being paid to the subject. Fifty-six percent told CBS/NYT that the media is spending too much time covering the Obama-Wright relationship. A 52-percent majority also told USA Today/Gallup that Obama's relationship with his pastor "should not be discussed in the campaign because it is not a meaningful reflection on Obama’s character and judgment." And 57 percent of all voters told CBS/NYT that Wright will have no bearing on their vote if Obama is on the Democratic ticket.

Meanwhile, there is evidence that both the other remaining presidential nominees have their own connections to worry about. While one-third of overall respondents told the USA Today/Gallup poll that Wright made them less likely to vote for Obama, the same proportion of likely voters said that Clinton's association with her husband, former President Bill Clinton, made them less likely to support her. But the most damaging relationship of all was John McCain's ties to unpopular incumbent President Bush: Thirty-eight percent of likely voters said that McCain's association with Bush made them less likely to vote for the presumptive Republican nominee.

Pander At The Pump

If voters see hints of political expediency in Obama's repudiation of Wright, polling suggests they see little else in the proposal -- supported by Clinton and McCain -- to suspend the national gas tax for the summer. Fully 70 percent of respondents in the CBS News/New York Times survey said candidates who support the measure are doing so to help themselves politically, compared with 21 percent who said it was to help the average American. (Pollsters did not mention where individual candidates stood on the "tax holiday.")

But that figure could be read more as a measure of public cynicism towards Washington at a time when the country's "wrong track" measures are hitting record highs, and the survey also found that a slim plurality -- 49 percent -- said the gas tax break was a bad idea. Forty-five percent approved of the plan. Public skepticism about the proposal is especially surprising given other recent polls showing Americans want elected officials to take action.

What's more, people continue to tell pollsters that rising fuel prices are causing them financial hardship. In a recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, three-fifths of those surveyed said the cost of gas had hurt them and their families. And 83 percent said oil companies were making too much profit -- a possible selling point for Clinton's proposal, which would divert oil company subsidies to replace tax revenue lost over the summer suspension.