Economy weighs on voters' minds-Obama fares better

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http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/08/economy_weighs_on_voters_minds.html

Economy weighs on voters' minds
Democrat Barack Obama fares better than Republican John McCain on this.
Posted August 1, 2008 8:15 AM
The Swamp

by Mark Silva


With further evidence here that it's the economy, stupid, that could play a deciding role in the presidential contest, the Pew Research Center has collected some unsettling findings about the mood of the American public:

* 38 percent of those surveyed say affording the cost of food is becoming a problem.
* 55 percent say real estate values have slipped.
* 73 percent say good jobs are scarce locally.
* 87 percent say who is elected president matters to the economy.

And while overall public opinion toward Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama appears to be somewhat evenly divided in the July 23-27 survey, more view Obama as capable of doing something about the economy.

"The public continues to be extremely downbeat about the national economy,'' the Pew Center reports, with just 10 percent calling the economy in good shape and 72 percent saying the economy is either in a recession (54 percent) or depression (18).

snip//

With 87 percent of those surveyed saying that, when it comes to the economy, it matters who is elected president, 47 percent say Obama can do a better job of improving the economy and 32 percent say McCain can. That's slightly narrower than the margin which favored Obama on this score in a June survey - 51 to 31 percent.

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