Democratic
presidential hopeful Barack Obama is ahead in four battleground states,
according to a Quinnipiac University poll out Tuesday that suggested
Obama could be benefiting from turmoil on Wall Street.Republican White
House rival John McCain has not been able to wrestle the banner of
change from Obama, and voters in three of the four states see Obama as
better on economic issues, the polls showed.”With a lousy economy, an
unpopular war and an even less popular Republican president, it’s
difficult to find voters who don’t want change,” said Peter Brown,
assistant director of the Quinnipiac’s University’s Polling Institute.
In
Colorado, Obama leads McCain by 49 to 45 percent. Last month, McCain
was ahead one percentage point in Colorado, 47-46 percent, Quinnipiac
said.
In Michigan, Obama leads McCain 48 to 44 percent, compared to 46-42 percent on July 24.
In Minnesota, Obama is holding on to a two percentage point lead of 47 to 45 percent, compared to 46 to 44 percent in late July.
In
Wisconsin, Obama leads by 49 to 42 percent, although his advantage has
narrowed from 50 to 39 percent in July.”The Wall Street meltdown while
these polls were in the field probably fed the public desire for change
and seemed to benefit Senator Obama,” Brown said.Obama is widely
perceived as the candidate of change in the four key states, by 19 to
24 point margins, Quinnipiac said.
Voters in all four states
named the economy as the top issue in the November 4 election and said
Obama has a better handle on it, except in Minnesota where voters were
equally divided on which candidate best understands the economy (45 to
45 percent).By contrast, voters were convinced McCain has a better
grasp on foreign policy, by margins of 34 percent and higher in all
four states.Voters in the four states view the running mates —
Delaware Senator Joe Biden for the Democrats and Alaska Governor Sarah
Palin for the Republicans — as good choices.
But they would
rather see Biden as president, by margins of four to nine
percent.Quinnipiac questioned 1,301 likely voters in Minnesota between
September 14-21; 1,313 in Wisconsin; 1,364 in Michigan; and 1,418 in
Colorado. The polls had a 2.7 margin of error except Colorado, where
the margin of error was 2.6 percent.The polls were conducted in
partnership with The Wall Street Journal and washingtonpost.com, the
university said.