Poll: McCain leads in Ohio

By TOM TROY

Narrow advantage for GOP keeps race extremely volatileSFlb

The poll revealed deep dissatisfaction about Ohioans’ personal economic condition.

In the battle for Ohio’s 20 electoral votes, Republican presidential nominee John McCain holds a 48 percent to 42 percent lead over Democratic opponent Barack Obama — but with lots of time left in a volatile race, according to the first Ohio Newspaper Poll.

The poll also surveyed Ohio voters on health care, energy and their personal financial situations — with nearly half saying they are worse off today than four years ago.

The Ohio News Organization — a cooperative formed this year by the state’s eight largest daily newspapers, including The Vindicator — commissioned the poll. The Institute for Policy Research at the University of Cincinnati, which also runs the respected Ohio Poll, surveyed 869 likely Ohio voters Sept. 12-16, with an error margin of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.

Two more Ohio Newspaper Polls will be conducted before the Nov. 4 election — on the Iraq war and national security and on the economy.

Six-point lead for GOP

Forty-eight percent of respondents favored Arizona Sen. McCain and 42 percent favored Illinois Sen. Obama. The remaining 10 percent support one of the two minor-party candidates — Independent Party candidate Ralph Nader had 4 percent, and Libertarian Bob Barr 1 percent in the poll — or haven’t decided.

“Even though it seems like this presidential race has gone on for an eternity, in many ways, especially in Ohio, it’s just getting started,” said Eric Rademacher, interim co-director of the institute. “When you bring the margin of error into consideration, it’s certainly a very close race in the state.”

He said voters are still learning about Obama, which will make the poll volatile through September.

“There is a great deal of potential for change in this race,” Rademacher said. “Almost a quarter of Ohio voters are still looking carefully at the candidates and have yet to make a final vote decision.”

Ohio’s pulse on economy, energy

The poll touched on other issues as well.

It revealed deep dissatisfaction about Ohioans’ personal economic situation:

UAsked if they are better off, worse off or the same as four years ago, a slight majority said they were either the same (34 percent) or better off (19 percent), while 47 percent said they were worse off.

The poll also illuminated the difficulties of reaching consensus on energy policy:

U70 percent agreed that global warming is a proven fact, not an unproven theory. However, fewer than half — 46 percent — blamed man-made emissions.

U55 percent said investing in alternative energy sources should be the top priority for U.S. energy policy, while 29 percent saw expanded exploration and drilling for oil and natural gas as the top priority.

U59 percent favored building more nuclear power facilities.

McCain has advocated nuclear plant construction and additional off-shore drilling, while Obama has promised a massive investment in alternative and renewable energy sources.

In response to a question about health care, 65 percent of respondents said they support providing health care for all Americans, even if it means raising taxes.

Respondents attributed to McCain more than Obama the qualities of “good judgment,” “qualified,” and “higher personal and ethical standards.”

Obama scored better than Mc-Cain with likely voters on “personally likeable” and “best understands the problems facing Ohio.”

The Ohio Newspaper Poll’s findings are in line with many other recent polls of the Ohio electorate in giving McCain a slight edge.

The University of Cincinnati’s Ohio Poll conducted one week earlier showed McCain with the same 48 percent support, but had Obama with 44 percent.

Nationally, Obama leads McCain 47 percent-45 percent, according to a Zogby International poll out Wednesday, a seven-point reversal from an August Zogby poll that had McCain in the lead. The pollster credits Obama’s national rise in the poll to increasing support from women.

Comments from respondents

Clarence Martin, 57, an employee of a shipping operation in central Ohio that is slated to be shut down soon, said he is backing McCain because he believes keeping taxes low is how to spur investment.

“I’m still on the fence but mostly for Mc- Cain,” said Martin, of Hillsboro, between Columbus and Cincinnati. “It just seems like he’s a better choice than Obama at the moment.”

Martin’s employer, ABX Air, contracts with DHL Express, which announced in May it would close the Wilmington Air Park hub, eliminating 8,000 jobs, including Martin’s.

McCain supported DHL’s purchase of the hub, and his campaign manager, Rick Davis, lobbied for DHL’s German-based parent firm to purchase the Wilmington business five years ago.

Cleveland-area autoworker Robert Dempsey, 38, said he believes Obama’s proposals are better for people like him.

“I like that he isn’t afraid to go after big business as far as taxing them, keeping jobs in-house, in the United States — that’s huge for this country,” Dempsey said.

Jean Fleck, 68, of Toledo, who works in a box-and-container factory, said Obama “seems to give you a sense that he’s for the working people, and we need somebody like that.”

“These people that make all this money don’t realize what everyday life is like, and he gives me the impression he knows what it’s like; he’s just a regular person,” she said.

But Toledo entrepreneur Donnie Stevens, 27, said he supports McCain because, “I like smaller government. I don’t like national health care.”

The self-employed photographer and school maintenance worker predicted McCain will carry Ohio because Ohio voted in 2000 and 2004 for George W. Bush, and he said McCain is “10 times” smarter than President Bush.

Andrew Kaminski, 54, of Stow, near Akron, said the abortion issue is a key one for him.

“I can’t support Democrats because their platform is not pro-life in any way, shape or form,” Kaminski said.

“As a Republican, McCain is not the party-line kind of guy. Obama is campaigning on change but everything he’s talking about is the same old Democratic ideals they’ve had forever,” Kaminski said.

McCain’s position on social and moral issues strikes a chord with Deborah McGee, 60, of Southpoint, Ohio, near Kentucky and West Virginia.

“He is not for same-sex marriage; he is not for abortion. And for me, that’s two important things,” Ms. McGee said, adding that her husband is a Vietnam veteran — such as McCain — and so, “maybe it’s a sentimental factor also.”

Obama has also said he does not support same-sex marriage but supports civil union. He supports abortion rights.

Sounding off on race

Several Obama supporters interviewed by the Ohio Newspaper Poll predicted that the Illinois senator’s race will be an impossible obstacle for many voters. Obama had a black father and a white mother.

“The color of Obama’s skin — he will not carry this area,” said William Nesselrode, 64, of Stockport, in southeast Ohio.

He said in his community people who support Obama put their signs in a field, rather than their yard, apparently out of fear of being affiliated with him.

“Down here, Friday afternoon is when you wash the sheets. Saturday is when you hang them out. Sunday is when you wear them,” he said.

Obama supporter Elizabeth Snyder, 37, of Greenfield, in southern Ohio, also was pessimistic about Obama’s chances of winning.

“There’s a lot of prejudiced people out there. I’m not one of them. If it’s not a reporter asking the question, they’ll say it’s because of his color,” Ms. Snyder said.

She said she tries to correct people when she hears them question Obama’s American nationality, but “you wind up in an argument over it.”