Majority of voters say Palin not qualified for Vice-President

New York, Oct 31 (PTI) A growing number of voters have
concluded that Senator John McCain's running mate Sarah Palin
is not qualified to be vice president, weighing down the
Republican ticket to the White House in the last days of the
campaign, a new poll shows.

The just released New York Times/CBS News poll shows that
59 percent of voters surveyed said the Alaska Governor was
not prepared for the job, up nine percentage points since the
beginning of the month.

Nearly a third of voters polled said the selection of
vice-presidential candidate would be a major factor
influencing their vote for president but that too is not a
good news for Republican as those voters broadly favour
Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee.

Indicating that the choice of Palin has hurt McCain's
image, voters said they had much more confidence in Obama to
pick qualified people for his administration than they did in
McCain.

After nearly two years of campaigning, a pair of hotly
contested nominating battles, a series of debates and an
avalanche of advertisements, the nationwide poll found the
contours of the race hardening in the last days before the
election on Tuesday.

Twelve percent of the voters surveyed said they had
already voted.

The poll result showed Obama is maintaining his lead,
with 51 percent of likely voters supporting him and 40 percent
supporting McCain in a head-to-head matchup.

Some perceptions of race are changing, with increase in
the number of people who believe that white and black people
have an equal chance of getting ahead in America Friday.

McCain's focus on taxes, including his talk about Joe the
Plumber, seems to have some effect, as a growing number of
voters now say McCain would not raise their taxes.

Eighty-nine percent of people view the economy
negatively and 85 percent think the country is on the wrong
track.

Obama continues to have a significant advantage on key
issues like economy, health care and the war in Iraq.

The survey found that opinions of Obama and McCain have
hardened considerably as 9 out of 10 voters, who claimed to
have settled on a candidate, said their minds were made up and
a growing number of them called it "extremely important" that
their candidate win the election.

Roughly half of each candidate's supporters said they
were "scared" of what the other candidate would do if elected.

Just 4 percent of voters were undecided. When they were
pressed to say whom they leaned toward, the shape of the race
remained essentially the same.

Bolstered by the fiscal crisis and deep concerns about
the direction of the country, Obama, the survey showed, seemed
to have solidified the support he has gained in recent months.

The survey suggested that Obama's candidacy — if elected,
he would be the first black president — has changed some
perceptions of race in America. Nearly two-thirds of those
polled said whites and blacks have an equal chance of getting
ahead in today's society, up from the half who said they
thought so in July, The Times said.

While 14 percent said most people they knew would not
vote for a black presidential candidate, the number has
dropped considerably since the campaign began.