FOX News/Rasmussen Reports Poll: Obama Widens Lead in Three Battleground States
The latest FOX News/Rasmussen Reports Poll shows that Obama has made significant gains the battleground states of Colorado, Missouri and Florida, while little change has been seen since last week's poll in Ohio and Virginia.
FOXNews.com
Monday, October 06, 2008
The latest Fox News/Rasmussen Reports polling of five battleground states shows Barack Obama has made significant gains in Colorado, Missouri and Florida. In Ohio and Virginia, there was little change from the week before.
All five of these states were won by George W. Bush and the Republicans four years ago. Obama now holds at least a modest edge in four of the five states and is essentially even in Ohio.
Obama now leads by seven points, 52 percent to 45 percent in Florida. A week ago the candidates were tied in the Sunshine State. Two weeks ago, McCain was up five.
In Colorado, Obama now holds a six-point advantage, 51 percent to 45 percent. Last week, Obama had a one-point edge in the state and two weeks ago McCain was narrowly ahead.
In Missouri, it's Obama 50 percent McCain 47 percent. In mid-September, a Rasmussen Reports poll had found McCain up by five in the Show-Me State.
Obama continues to hold a narrow advantage in Virginia, 50 percent to 48 percent. That's virtually unchanged from last week. However, last week was the first time Obama had moved ahead in this state that hasn't voted for a Democrat since 1964.
Ohio is the only state where McCain has any sort of advantage. But a 48 percent to 47 percent lead is meaningless in a poll with a three percentage point margin of sampling error.
Looking at all of the data collected over the past few weeks, these state-by-state results confirm data from national trends found in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll. Obama has been gaining steadily ever since Lehman Brothers collapsed in mid-September and made visible the economic problems that have dominated the news ever since.
Before Lehman Brothers collapsed, McCain was up three percentage points nationally. Today, Obama has an eight-point advantage nationally.
A number of other themes emerge from the data that are worth noting:
-The number who would be very or extremely comfortable with Obama ranges from 44 percent to 47 percent. For McCain, the comparable numbers range from 40 percent to 42 percent. Obama has the advantage on this measure in all five states.
-In all five states, more voters trust Obama than McCain on economic issues. Economic issues remain far and away the top priority.
-Obama has gained significant ground in recent weeks on the question of who voters trust. The two candidates are even in three states on this question and McCain has only a very modest edge in the other two. In all four states where this question was asked last week, the numbers became at least a bit more favorable this week.
-The number who said they would be comfortable with Delaware Senator Joe Biden as Vice President increased in all three states where the question was asked for a second time.
-There was little change in the number who would be comfortable with Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as Vice President.
-When asked which candidate they would like to get advice from on the toughest decision of their life, a narrow plurality chose McCain in all five states. But, as with other questions in the survey, the trend is moving in Obama's direction. |
