Support increases in Ohio for Obama

By Marc Kovac

McCain is improving in swing states Pennsylvania and Florida.

COLUMBUS — Ohioans mostly supported the selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate, though she hasn’t bumped the Republican ticket among likely voters in the state.

Overall, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama increased his lead among Ohioans, taking a 49 percent-44 percent lead over the Republicans, according to the latest poll by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

A month earlier, the two were virtually tied, at 44 percent for Obama and 43 percent for McCain.

In Florida and Pennsylvania, the two other so-called swing states included in the poll, McCain fared better than a month earlier. In Florida, he now leads Obama 50 percent-43 percent (compared to 47 percent-43 percent a month earlier). And in Pennsylvania, he caught up a few percentage points, though Obama still leads 48 percent-45 percent (compared to 49 percent-42 percent a month earlier).

McCain’s support among white women voters is part of the reason for the results.

“White women, a key demographic group in any national election, appear to be in play, with some movement toward Sen. McCain in Pennsylvania and Ohio,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the institute, said in a released statement. “Obviously, Gov. Sarah Palin is having the impact that Sen. McCain hoped when he selected her.”

The Connecticut-based institute regularly gauges voters’ opinions on candidates and issues in the three states. Over the past week, it surveyed 1,367 likely voters in Ohio with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points; 1,001 in Pennsylvania with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points; and 1,032 in Florida also with an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Among the Ohio results:

UObama leads among women (52 percent-42 percent) and younger voters (64 percent-33 percent), while McCain leads among older voters (48 percent-44 percent) and independents (47 percent-43 percent). Also, 28 percent of those questioned who formerly supported Hillary Clinton now are backing McCain, up from 23 percent a month ago.

“Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama are getting the same level of party loyalty, and the Republican is even winning slightly among independents,” Brown said. “But Obama is ahead because there are so many more people who identify as Democrats — a legacy of the 2006 elections and scandals involving former Gov. Robert Taft’s administration.”

UBoth candidates received identical favorability ratings among likely Ohio voters (53 percent-34 percent). Palin’s favorability was slightly higher than her Democratic vice presidential counterpart, Joe Biden (41 percent-22 percent for Palin, versus 36 percent-22 percent for Biden).

UFifty-two percent of Ohioans ranked the economy as the biggest issue in considering how to vote, followed by health care (11 percent), the war in Iraq (10 percent), energy policy (9 percent) and terrorism (8 percent).

mkovac@dixcom.com