Oregon helps put Obama in the White House
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - The economy ranked as the top concern among Oregon voters who cast their ballot for Barack Obama over John McCain, pretty much regardless of education or household income.
A phone poll of voters the week before mail ballots were due at county clerk offices in Oregon suggested there was little doubt the economy needed to be fixed and Obama was the candidate to do it.
More than half of Oregon voters ranked the economy as the top issue in the presidential election, while more than eight in 10 voters said they were worried about its direction over the next year.
More than nine out of 10 rated the condition of the economy as poor or not so good.
Support for Obama crossed income, education, gender or age groups in Oregon, with young and old, rich and poor, college graduates and high school dropouts alike voting for the Democratic senator from Illinois.
Men and women voted in about equal numbers for Obama, who had slightly stronger support from younger voters 18-29 years old, but showed strength among older Oregon voters as well, including about two out of every three over age 65.
When ranked by family income, his strongest support came from voters with incomes of $100,000 to $150,000, who favored Obama 2-to-1.
But even the poorest voters, who made less than $15,000, supported him by more than a 3-to-2 margin.
College graduates favored Obama more than those with just a high school education, but it was still roughly 3-to-2 for the Democrat.
When asked whether Obama or McCain was in touch with the average voter, the response was nearly a mirror image, with voters saying Obama was in touch more than 2-to-1, the same ratio saying McCain was out of touch.
About the only category McCain found any support in Oregon was whether he had the experience to effectively serve as president, with voters breaking about equally for both candidates but slightly favoring McCain.
The survey of 1,249 Oregon voters was conducted for AP by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International by landline telephone statewide over the past week. Results are subject to sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, higher for subgroups.
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Methodology details: http://surveys.ap.org/exitpolls
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
