Democratic Senator Barack Obama has opened a nine-point lead over Republican Senator John McCain in the US presidential race amid turmoil in the financial system and growing pessimism about the economy, according to a Washington Post-ABC News national opinion poll released yesterday.
Among likely voters, the poll found Obama now leads McCain by 52 percent to 43 percent. Two weeks ago the race was essentially even, with McCain at 49 percent and Obama at 47 percent, the Post reported.
The financial crisis brought on the collapse of the credit market has become the No. 1 issue leading up to the Nov. 4 presidential election.
PHOTO: AP
Fifty-two percent of those polled said they believe the economy has moved into a serious long-term decline.
Eighty percent said they are concerned about the overall direction of the economy, nearly three-quarters worry about the shocks to the stock market and six in 10 are apprehensive about their own family finances, the newspaper said.
Half of the respondents called the economy and jobs the single most important issue that will determine their vote, up from 37 percent two weeks ago.
The poll found Obama has a big edge as the candidate who is more in tune with the economic problems Americans now face, the Post said.
The Illinois senator also has a double-digit advantage on handling the current problems on Wall Street, and as a result, there has been a rise in his overall support, the report said.
Neither Obama nor McCain, an Arizona senator, has said he would oppose the US President George W. Bush administration’s financial industry bailout plan being negotiated with Congress, although both have been critical of it.
But the US$700 billion price tag would almost certainly restrict the agenda and limit the number of costly programs advocated by whoever becomes the next president.
Less than six weeks before the election, independents now favor Obama, 53 percent compared with 39 percent for McCain. McCain had a small lead among these swing voters just after the Republican convention.
Two weeks ago, McCain had a substantial advantage among white voters. Now the candidates run evenly among white women, and Obama has narrowed the overall gap among white voters to five percentage points, the Post said.
Meanwhile, Chicago police found a gun in the car of a man arrested on Tuesday near Obama’s home, although the US Secret Service insisted the man never posed a threat to the presidential candidate.
The apparently intoxicated man was not armed when he was arrested as he approached security barriers posted with no-access signs a block from the home in the South Side neighborhood, Chicago police spokesman Daniel O’Brien said.
Police later searched his nearby car and found the gun, O’Brien said.
The man’s name was not immediately released because he had not been charged and Secret Service spokesman Malcolm Wiley said it did not appear the man would face federal charges. O’Brien said city police were still considering charges on Tuesday.
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