http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-poll29-2008oct29,0,7008892.storyVoters see the economy as the chief issue and Obama as the best man to handle it, according to a Times/Bloomberg poll. Obama leads in Ohio, 49% to 40%; in Florida, 50% to 43%.
By Janet Hook
October 29, 2008
Reporting from Washington -- Barack Obama is leading Republican presidential rival John McCain in two battleground states, Florida and Ohio, where voters have more confidence in his ability to handle the troubled economy, a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found.
In Ohio, a state that has been battered for years by unemployment and plant closings, the Democrat is leading McCain, 49% to 40%, among people likely to vote.
In Florida, a state that was considered a likely win for Republicans not long ago, McCain is trailing, 50% to 43%.
In both states, Obama has opened commanding leads over McCain among women, young people, first-time voters, and blacks and other minorities.
McCain still is widely viewed as far better equipped than Obama to deal with terrorism and the war in Iraq. But voters in Ohio and Florida do not see those issues as paramount in light of the turmoil in the economy and on Wall Street.
The poll results undercut McCain's closing argument that Obama is no friend of working people such as Joe the Plumber -- the Ohio man who said he feared his taxes would rise if Obama were elected.
Among registered voters in Ohio, the survey found, Obama won support from 52% of white, working-class voters, compared with 38% for McCain. The poll defined "working class" as people with no college degree and a household income of less than $50,000.
"Barack Obama understands Joe the Plumber better than John McCain," said Theresa Riddle, a 48-year-old Republican in Springfield, Ohio, who participated in the survey and spoke in a follow-up interview. "When John McCain talks about the economy, he says nothing."
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