With the dust still settling on a bailout, Barack Obama's response to the Wall Street credit crisis appears to have helped the Democrat open up a lead over Republican John McCain in Pennsylvania.
Obama earned higher marks than McCain in a Muhlenberg College/Morning Call poll of 597 likely voters in the key swing state taken from Tuesday through Friday.
Forty-three percent approved of Obama's handling of the crisis, compared with 29 percent who approved of McCain's response. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Obama's overall lead in the poll has increased from 4 points to 12 points in the last nine days, hitting 51 percent to McCain's 39 percent on Friday.
Nearly a third of voters -- 28 percent for Obama and 29 percent for McCain -- said they weren't sure if they approved or disapproved of each candidate's response to the problems on Wall Street.
While McCain announced a suspension of his campaign Sept. 24 and traveled to Washington to talk bailout, Obama outlined a set of principles he wanted to see in the bill and participated from the campaign trail.
Democrats typically earn higher ratings on the economy, but Obama is enjoying a ''mini-surge'' over Wall Street and his first debate, said pollster Chris Borick of Muhlenberg in Allentown.
Pollster G. Terry Madonna of Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster said economic issues resonate with Pennsylvanians because of the state's industrial struggles and a general attitude that the government is expected to help.
And no matter how McCain responded, Madonna said, some voters were bound to associate him with the weak economy because his party controls the White House.
http://www.mcall.com/news/elections/local/all-a4_5poll.6616108oct04,0,3803430.story?track=rss
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
