Poll Gives Obama 8-Point Va. Lead(Wash Post 52-44)

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Washington Post

Barack Obama has opened up an eight-point lead over Republican John McCain in Virginia, and the Democrat is entering the final week of the campaign with several core advantages when it comes to turning out his supporters, according to a new Washington Post poll.

The survey highlights the challenges facing McCain and the GOP during the final stretch of the election, as Obama has made evident progress in the Old Dominion the past month.

By wide margins, Virginia voters think that Obama is the candidate who would do more to bring needed change to Washington, who understands the economic challenges people are facing and who is the more honest and trustworthy of the two rivals. Still, there remains widespread apprehension over whether the Democratic nominee would make a good commander in chief.

McCain's path to the White House is very difficult without Virginia's 13 electoral votes, and Obama now leads the senator from Arizona 52 percent to 44 percent in the new poll.

In a Washington Post-ABC News Virginia poll taken late last month, Obama clung to a slim 3 percentage-point edge among likely voters. As an example of the gains he has made since that poll, Obama is now tied with McCain among college-educated white men, overcoming what had been an almost 30-point deficit for the Democrat.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

[varun]

1. I'm so glad to see this

Hope this red state turns DEEP blue next week.

[4lbs]

2. Virginia going blue would signify 3 major things:

1.) Virginia was a red state in the last 7 elections, dating all the way back to 1980. The fact that it will likely go blue this time is stunning.

2.) McCain then has absolutely "no room for error". He can't lose any other "Bush red" state, or else he's done and the election may be called early.

3.) The fact that an African-American candidate may be the first Democrat to win this Southern state in more than 30 years, is likely not lost on many people who are mindful of the civil rights and minority oppression struggles in our country's history.

[onehandle]

3. Deep Southern states don't consider Virginia to be part of the South.

You'll hear that a lot more after the election.

[mwb970]

5. Even the rural, small-town "real America" part?

I understand the Southern rejection of Communist North Virginia, but isn't South Virginia just as backward as any other place in the South?

[BumRushDaShow]

4. Actually, Doug Wilder was governer 18 years ago

So state-wide, things have been changing.

[Hawaii Hiker]

6. Actually, Virginia hasn't gone Democrat in a presidential election

since LBJ won it in 1964...

[4lbs]

7. Ah, yes, you are correct.

n/t