ID :
28220
Tue, 11/04/2008 - 09:24
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/28220
The shortlink copeid
Obama ahead of McCain: poll
New York, Nov 3(PTI) Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama entered final hours of the election campaign with a solid, though narrowing, lead over his powerful Republican rival John McCain.
A just released Wall Street Journal poll shows the
Democrat with an eight-percentage-point advantage, down from
the 10-point edge he held last week. The Republican was still
hoping he could gain further traction in the campaign's
closing hours with now-familiar charges that Obama is too
liberal and not ready for the job.
Obama's lead, reflected in other national and
battleground state polls as well, has been in place since
September, when the financial crisis reset the presidential
contest. McCain's advisers were gunning for a come-from-behind
victory, noting that he did it before to capture the
Republican nomination, the Journal said.
The new Wall Street Journal poll, conducted Saturday
and Sunday, found 51 percent of likely voters favoured Obama,
versus 43 percent who favoured McCain.
Six percent remained undecided, with a third of those
saying they were leaning toward a third-party candidate. The
poll's margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage
points.
"The poll shows some slight movement for McCain. But
with just 48 hours left, it's going to be a challenge to make
up the rest of the difference," Neil Newhouse, a Republican
pollster who conducts the survey with Democrat Peter D. Hart,
told the Journal.
"This poll has all the earmarkings of an electorate
that has reached an opinion that Barack Obama would be a good
president," Hart said. "The uncertainties [about Obama] that
were so prevalent early in the year have just melted away."
McCain advisers were of the view that, in the end,
undecided voters will break his way and were quoted as saying
they look more like typical Republican voters than Democrats.
Both candidates were appealing over the weekend to that small
pool of undecided voters, as they worked to turn their troops
out to the polls tomorrow.
A handful of voters who participated in the survey and
leading towards Obama told the Journal that a longing for
change after eight years of a Republican White House and a
hesitation about Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, as
McCain's running mate. Palin has electrified conservatives but
turned off many others voters, the paper noted.
Among the poll's findings: Voters are just as likely
to identify with Obama's background and values as they are
with McCain's, with the Democrat having made up substantial
ground in this regard. A large portion of those polled said
they would be either optimistic or at least satisfied if Obama
wins, figures comparable to other victors on the eve of their
elections.
Obama also continues to win among key voter groups,
leading among independents, suburbanites, Midwesterners and
white Catholics.
Newhouse noted that McCain lags behind Bush's
standings on Election Day in 2004 among several groups. McCain
now has support of 54 percent of white men, versus 62 percent
for Bush was supported by 44 percent of Hispanics, a
group McCain long thought he would also do well with. But the
Republican nominee this year is favored by just 27 percent of
Hispanic voters.
After the longest presidential race in history, the
paper said, the electorate looks more engaged than ever, and
turnout could shatter records.
An estimated 153.1 million Americans will have
registered to vote tomorrow, or 73.5 per cent of the eligible
population, according to a study released by American
University's Center for the Study of the American Electorate.
That percentage is the highest since women were given
the vote in 1920, beating the previous high of 72.1 percent
set in 1964.
Illustrating the headwind facing McCain, Democratic
registration will have increased by an estimated 1.4
percentage points, or by 2.9 million, since 2004; Republican
registration will have declined by 1,458,000.
The poll found that 30 percent of voters have already
cast their ballots through absentee or early voting available
in many states. The early voters' views reflect the overall
electorate's.
Fully 58 percent of those polled said they would be
optimistic and confident or at least satisfied and hopeful if
Obama were to be elected, compared to 46 percent who said
that about a McCain victory.
The Obama figure exceeds President Bush's on the eve
of his twin victories and Bill Clinton's level just before he
was re-elected.
The one warning for Obama in the poll regards the
cloud of uncertainty about the economy. Only 42 percent of
voters expressed a great deal or quite a bit of confidence
that if elected, Obama could get the economy back on track.
That was better than 27 percent for McCain, but still
pessimistic. PTI D.S.
RKM
A just released Wall Street Journal poll shows the
Democrat with an eight-percentage-point advantage, down from
the 10-point edge he held last week. The Republican was still
hoping he could gain further traction in the campaign's
closing hours with now-familiar charges that Obama is too
liberal and not ready for the job.
Obama's lead, reflected in other national and
battleground state polls as well, has been in place since
September, when the financial crisis reset the presidential
contest. McCain's advisers were gunning for a come-from-behind
victory, noting that he did it before to capture the
Republican nomination, the Journal said.
The new Wall Street Journal poll, conducted Saturday
and Sunday, found 51 percent of likely voters favoured Obama,
versus 43 percent who favoured McCain.
Six percent remained undecided, with a third of those
saying they were leaning toward a third-party candidate. The
poll's margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage
points.
"The poll shows some slight movement for McCain. But
with just 48 hours left, it's going to be a challenge to make
up the rest of the difference," Neil Newhouse, a Republican
pollster who conducts the survey with Democrat Peter D. Hart,
told the Journal.
"This poll has all the earmarkings of an electorate
that has reached an opinion that Barack Obama would be a good
president," Hart said. "The uncertainties [about Obama] that
were so prevalent early in the year have just melted away."
McCain advisers were of the view that, in the end,
undecided voters will break his way and were quoted as saying
they look more like typical Republican voters than Democrats.
Both candidates were appealing over the weekend to that small
pool of undecided voters, as they worked to turn their troops
out to the polls tomorrow.
A handful of voters who participated in the survey and
leading towards Obama told the Journal that a longing for
change after eight years of a Republican White House and a
hesitation about Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, as
McCain's running mate. Palin has electrified conservatives but
turned off many others voters, the paper noted.
Among the poll's findings: Voters are just as likely
to identify with Obama's background and values as they are
with McCain's, with the Democrat having made up substantial
ground in this regard. A large portion of those polled said
they would be either optimistic or at least satisfied if Obama
wins, figures comparable to other victors on the eve of their
elections.
Obama also continues to win among key voter groups,
leading among independents, suburbanites, Midwesterners and
white Catholics.
Newhouse noted that McCain lags behind Bush's
standings on Election Day in 2004 among several groups. McCain
now has support of 54 percent of white men, versus 62 percent
for Bush was supported by 44 percent of Hispanics, a
group McCain long thought he would also do well with. But the
Republican nominee this year is favored by just 27 percent of
Hispanic voters.
After the longest presidential race in history, the
paper said, the electorate looks more engaged than ever, and
turnout could shatter records.
An estimated 153.1 million Americans will have
registered to vote tomorrow, or 73.5 per cent of the eligible
population, according to a study released by American
University's Center for the Study of the American Electorate.
That percentage is the highest since women were given
the vote in 1920, beating the previous high of 72.1 percent
set in 1964.
Illustrating the headwind facing McCain, Democratic
registration will have increased by an estimated 1.4
percentage points, or by 2.9 million, since 2004; Republican
registration will have declined by 1,458,000.
The poll found that 30 percent of voters have already
cast their ballots through absentee or early voting available
in many states. The early voters' views reflect the overall
electorate's.
Fully 58 percent of those polled said they would be
optimistic and confident or at least satisfied and hopeful if
Obama were to be elected, compared to 46 percent who said
that about a McCain victory.
The Obama figure exceeds President Bush's on the eve
of his twin victories and Bill Clinton's level just before he
was re-elected.
The one warning for Obama in the poll regards the
cloud of uncertainty about the economy. Only 42 percent of
voters expressed a great deal or quite a bit of confidence
that if elected, Obama could get the economy back on track.
That was better than 27 percent for McCain, but still
pessimistic. PTI D.S.
RKM
