Poll Finds Tight Obama-McCain Race, Big Experience Gap

August 11, 2008 3:35 PM | | Comments (0)

Barack Obama leads John McCain 42 percent to 39 percent with 4 percent preferring "other," and 13 percent undecided in an Economist/YouGovPolimetrix poll conducted Aug. 4-6. That puts them within the 4 point margin of error. There's a lot of stuff in this poll and it's worth a look.

The poll did not find much of a gender gap. When it comes to age, Obama leads 57 percent to 21 percent among voters under 29 while McCain has a 9 point lead among voters over 45. McCain leads by 9 points among white men while Obama leads 84 percent to 2 percent among blacks (about 11 percent of the sample) and 48 percent to 30 percent among Hispanics (about 7 percent of the sample). Forty-one percent of those surveyed predicted a very close election, 32 percent believe Obama will win and 18 percent say McCain will win.

Other findings:

  • Fifty-seven percent believe Obama says what he thinks people want to hear compared to 43 percent who say he says what he believes. McCain does better drawing 52 percent who say he says what he believes versus 48 percent who say he says what people want to hear. McCain gets his highest marks for patriotism (66 percent) and experience (56 percent).
  • Tested against a series of characteristics (genuine, phony, warm, cold , competent, patriotic, etc.), Obama gets his highest marks for intelligence (60 percent) and "inspiring" (43 percent). Fifty-one percent call him inexperienced and 45 percent believe he would be a "risky choice."
  • The economy is regarded as the top issue by 47 percent with all others, including Iraq, in single digits.
  • On Iraq, 19 percent say the U.S. should leave immediately, 28 percent say "within the next year," 15 percent say another year more but not indefinitely, and 33 percent say the U.S. should stay as long as it takes to stabilize the country.

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Categories: Economist/YouGovPolimetric, Presidential

Tags: Obama McCain Experience

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