PoliGazette » McCain Trusted More on Economy, Taxes

McCain Trusted More on Economy, Taxes

October 30th, 2008 By: Michael van der Galien | Tags:

For months, American voters told pollsters that they believed that Senator Barack Obama was better able to take care of the economy. He may not have a lot of foreign policy experience, voters seemed to believe, but he was informed about the economy, and best able to lead the U.S. out of a recession.

After a couple of weeks of attacking Obama’s economic plans, however, John McCain now has the upper hand: according to the latest Rasmussen poll, 48% of voters say they trust McCain more when it comes to the economy, against 47% who think Obama is best able to help the U.S. economy grow and recover.

Additionally, McCain leads the polls when it comes to taxes: 47% believe he has the best tax plans, against 45% who say the same about Obama.

McCain especially holds a wide lead among men: 51% vs. 43% while Obama leads among women, 48% vs. 43%.

Interesting is that Rasmussen is tracking voter confidence on ten issues. One month ago, Obama was leading on every single one of them. One week ago, he led on seven issues, today on six. If this trend continues, we will see that both men will be tied (5/5) next week, when the election takes place. That would indicate that this election could be very, very close.

For McCain, the Rasmussen poll is hopeful; if he leads Obama now on this important issue, he should perform better than many members of the media expect. Then again, this election will not be decided nationwide, but on a state level. If McCain truly wants to make life difficult for Obama, he will have to campaign hard in key battleground states.

Meanwhile, even if Obama wins, it is becoming increasingly clear that a landslide with regards to the popular vote is unlikely.

Share and Enjoy:

Palin: Not Willing to Give Up Counterintelligence Implications of Foreign Service National Employees

This website uses IntenseDebate comments, but they are not currently loaded because either your browser doesn't support JavaScript, or they didn't load fast enough.

William Hallowell
October 30th, 2008 at 22:20

Reply | Quote | #1

Interesting! Polls always show us some intriguing trends. I thought you might be interested in two non-partisan guides we’ve put together here at Public Agenda on the economy (http://publicagenda.org/citizen/electionguides/economy) and taxes, spending and debt (http://publicagenda.org/citizen/electionguides/taxesdebt). Feel free to check these out and get back to me with any questions. Thanks again for an informative piece!

Comments are closed.

PoliGazette Comments Policy

PoliGazette encourages comments from all viewpoints, especially those that disagree. Comments submitted must, however, adhere to the following standards. Comments that violate these standards may be edited or deleted without notice at the sole discretion of the editors. Commenters who repeatedly or egregiously violate these standards or who attempt to argue publicly with editors regarding the comments policy may be banned from commenting further.

(1) Comments should address the substantive content of the post. Comments that repeatedly or blatantly misrepresent the content of the post or of others' comments are not welcome. Comments that respond to something other than which the contributor or commenter may have said are irrelevant and should not be posted.

(2) Comments should avoid vulgarity as well as racial, ethnic, religious, or sexual bigotry.

(3) Comments should not personally attack the character, personal integrity, or professional reputation of any PoliGazette contributor or of other commenters.

(4) Comments should reflect the contributions of the commenters themselves and should not include extensive cut-and-paste reproductions of others' words except insofar as necessary to supplement the commenter's own arguments. Link spam, trackback spam, and propaganda spam will be instantly deleted.

(5) Public figures are considered open to all substantive criticism of their policies and statements. Comments that present objectively false factual information about public figures (i.e. "Obama is a Muslim") or that attack public figures by attacking their families are not welcome. Comments that merely repeat slogans for or against a candidate without engaging in substantive comment are not welcome.

Questions or challenges to these policies or their application should be directed to the editors by email only.