Mike Wereschagin - President Obama and Republican Mitt Romney
entered the final days of the presidential race tied in a state that the
campaigns only recently began contesting, a Tribune-Review poll shows.
The poll showed the race for Pennsylvania’s
20 electoral votes locked up at 47 percent in its final week. Romney was
scheduled to campaign in the Philadelphia area on Sunday, and former
President Bill Clinton planned to stump for Obama on Monday. The
campaigns have begun to saturate the airwaves with millions of dollars
in presidential advertising.
“They’re both in here because of exactly what
you’re seeing” in this poll, said Jim Lee, president of Susquehanna
Polling & Research, which surveyed 800 likely voters Oct. 29-31.
Most of the interviews occurred after Hurricane Sandy inundated Eastern
and Central Pennsylvania. The poll’s error margin is 3.46 percentage
points.
Nearly 60 percent of people say the country is
on the wrong track, and economic concerns continue to dominate. Almost
half of likely voters say economic issues are the primary driver of
their choice for president.
“I’m concerned about all the young people
graduating from college, whether they’re finding jobs,” said Pauline
Hoxie, 84, a Republican from Jersey Shore in Lycoming County. Her
grandson graduated with a degree in graphic design but works a manual
labor job because he can’t find openings in his field, she said.
Democrats shrugged off the Romney campaign’s
late play for Pennsylvania, sending emails to supporters and journalists
showing past Republican presidential candidates doing the same thing.
Pennsylvania hasn’t given its electoral votes to the Republican
candidate since 1988.
The state’s urban, suburban and rural voters
usually give winners narrower victories than Obama’s 10-point win in
2008. John Kerry won by 2.5 percentage points in 2004; Al Gore won by
4.2 in 2000.
The state is a tempting target for candidates
in close races. It has two more electoral votes than the 18 up for grabs
in Ohio, the focus of more campaign activity in the past few weeks than
any other state.
“Some people call it fool’s gold. Republicans come close but it just doesn’t happen at the end of the day,” Lee said.
It could be different for the GOP this year, Lee said.
Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate surpassed the
national average in September after remaining below average throughout
the recession. In Ohio, where both campaigns have spent far more time
and money, the unemployment rate was 7 percent in September, more than a
percentage point lower than Pennsylvania’s 8.2 percent.
“There is no president who only deals with
what happens during his four years,” said Lorraine Gregor, 61, a
Democrat from McKees Rocks. “I don’t care who the president would’ve
been when Barack Obama took office; we would be talking about the same
thing today.”
The national unemployment rate was 7.9 percent
in October, when employers added 171,000 jobs, according to the Bureau
of Labor Statistics.
“I just don’t feel that President Obama is
doing the job at all. What has he accomplished?” said Roger Briggs, 67,
of Monongahela. He questioned why accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh
Mohamed and Fort Hood gunman Nidal Malik Hassan haven’t been tried.
“They’re too lenient on these Muslims, these radical Muslims. He’s
bending over backwards.”
Obama enjoyed wide leads in state polling
during most of the race. That narrowed when Romney’s image improved as a
result of the October presidential debates. Susquehanna found 48
percent of voters view Romney favorably, the first time he tied Obama on
that measure. A Trib poll in September found Obama with a 47 percent
favorability rating, compared with Romney’s 41 percent.
“We’ve continued to show the president failing
to hit the 50-percent mark. Pennsylvanians have pretty much split their
perceptions of him. Those perceptions are hardened; they don’t change,”
Lee said.
What changed, he said, is Romney’s image among undecided voters: “Romney has given undecided a reason to vote for him.”
Romney’s image suffered among some voters
because of comments he made at a fundraiser that 47 percent of people
see themselves as victims entitled to government handouts.
Romney has since called the remarks “completely wrong.”
“I don’t believe Romney is concerned with the
working class. I just don’t like how we’re looked at these days,” said
Gregory Lutz, 64, a Democrat from Mildred in Sullivan County. Attacks
that highlighted Romney’s foreign bank accounts sowed more doubt, he
said.
Because he’s taken advantage of offshore tax benefits, “I don’t trust what he says about keeping jobs in the U.S.”
Pennsylvania’s sudden emergence as a state up
for grabs shouldn’t surprise anyone, Lee said. Even when state polls
showed a wide gap in Obama’s favor, the president rarely registered more
than 50 percent, he said.
“I think it’s always been here for the
taking,” Lee said. The question, he said, is whether Romney’s recent
play for the state is “a day late and a dollar short.”
No comments:
Post a Comment