 | A poll carried out by HCD Research suggests not. It found a majority of both Republicans and independents felt the cover was not offensive, compared to 31 per cent of Democrats. Over half of all respondents viewed the cartoon as sincere satire, while 47 per cent of Dems think the illustration will hurt the Obama campaign.
Among those not so convinced is Stanley Grossman of Democrats Abroad. He believes the New Yorker's reputation might be damaged, but that Mr Obama's prospects have not been dented in the least.
"The people who read the New Yorker are not going to be persuaded either way. Most… have a brain and so will not be voting for a Republican anyway," he explained.
"They were trying to be clever. It was clever satire but they lost touch with good taste and common sense."
Mr Grossman believes that, as Mr Obama's Republican rival John McCain has disavowed it, much of its political sting has been defused. A bigger danger may lie elsewhere.
"There are things going on in the blogosphere, saying he was a closet Muslim, and they were parodying it. The stuff that's being blogged about is offensive and damaging to Obama but there's nothing anybody can do about it. The hope is that relatively few people will believe it." |