President Obama is facing some ominous signs on the key issues of the economy and health care with voters demonstrating some strong skepticism about his handling of both those issues, according to a survey conducted for National Public Radio July 22-26.

However, another poll out today from George Washington University (read our post about it here) indicates that while Obama may be losing some ground, voters still favor him and his policies, along with those of congressional Democrats, more than those of the Republican opposition when measured by favorability and approval numbers and who is trusted more on a range of issues

Forty-eight 48 percent of voters said his economic policies have run up a record deficit while failing to end the recession or slow job losses while 45 percent said Obama had helped avert an even worse crisis and was building the foundation for recovery.

Still, 56 percent hold former President Bush responsible for the current state of the economy while 32 percent say the burden of responsibility has passed to Obama.

McCain is leading Obama by a statistically insignificant 46 percent to 44 percent of likely voters with 3 percent for Ralph Nader, 1 percent for Libertarian Bob Barr and 6percent expressing no opinion or having another choice, according to an NPR News poll of 14 battleground states. The margin of error is 3.46 percent. In its August poll, Obama had led by 3 points.

Looking at the electorate from the perspective of cultural and consumer habits, voters who prefer Starbucks also prefer Obama, by 52 percent to 39 percent. Dunkin' Donuts voters back McCain 47 percent to 43 percent. Customers who shop frequently at Wal-Mart back McCain 58 percent to 33 percent. Wal-Mart women back McCain 58 percent to 34 percent. Sarah Palin individually does even better than that: she gets 63 percent to 23 percent support among them. However, women under 34 have an unfavorable view of Palin by a 48 percent to 36 percent margin.